Former lab owner will serve 10-15 years for fungal meningitis deaths in Michigan

Evan Sasiela, Livingston Daily

LIVINGSTON COUNTY — A former lab owner was sentenced to prison Friday in Livingston County for his role in the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that resulted in 11 deaths in Michigan.

Barry Cadden, 57, was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison Friday, May 10. Cadden was sentenced in Livingston County 44th Circuit Court before Judge Matthew McGivney. HIs sentence will be served concurrently with his federal sentence of 14.5 years in prison.

A former lab owner was sentenced to prison Friday in Livingston County for his role in the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that resulted in 11 deaths in Michigan.
A former lab owner was sentenced to prison Friday in Livingston County for his role in the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that resulted in 11 deaths in Michigan.

Cadden is the former owner of the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. He pled no contest to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter in March.

More: Lab owner charged in 11 Michigan meningitis deaths reaches plea deal

“We all depend on safe medications,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote in a news release. “Whether it’s a child needing antibiotics, a parent receiving life-saving treatment, or a grandmother in desperate need of pain relief, every patient deserves to know their medications will help them, not kill them.

“The families of these 11 victims will forever bear the weight of Mr. Cadden’s greed and disregard for basic standards that caused this horrific tragedy. We can’t bring them back, but with this sentence, I hope the victims' families now have a sense of closure and bad actors know my office will ensure they are held accountable.”

Glenn Chin, left, and Barry Cadden on trial Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, for the tainted steroids produced by their Massachusetts lab, which allegedly caused fungal meningitis.
Glenn Chin, left, and Barry Cadden on trial Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, for the tainted steroids produced by their Massachusetts lab, which allegedly caused fungal meningitis.

A nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak caused 64 deaths in 2012. Contaminated injection treatments at the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic in Livingston County resulted in 11 deaths.

Patients at MPS Clinic were given epidural injections of the steroid methylprednisolone, which was compounded and produced at NECC.

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Donna Kruzich, Paula Brent, Lyn Laperriere, Mary Plettl, Gayle Gipson, Patricia Malafouris, Emma Todd, Jennie Barth, Ruth Madouse, Salley Roe and Karina Baxter died as a result of being injected with the drug.

Kathy Pugh tends to her mother, fungal meningitis patient Evelyn Bates-March, in 2013.
Kathy Pugh tends to her mother, fungal meningitis patient Evelyn Bates-March, in 2013.

According to the AG's Office, Cadden “disregarded sterility procedures in the compounding of sterile medications and ran his business in an egregiously unsafe manner, endorsing laboratory directives wherein cleaning records and scientific testing results were regularly forged and fabricated.”

The Department of Attorney General took investigative action against Cadden in 2013. He was charged with 11 counts of second-degree murder in 2018.

In 2017, he was found guilty in a federal court of 57 criminal charges.

— Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Former lab owner will serve 10-15 years for deaths in Michigan

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