(WWJ) - The former owner of the company that caused a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 has pleaded no contest to charges in a Michigan court.
Barry Cadden, the former owner of New England Compounding Center, pled no contest to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter for his role leading to the deaths of 11 Michigan residents in 2012, according to a statement from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
The plea is part of an agreement that includes a sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison.
A nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 resulted in 64 deaths.
Officials say 11 people died after receiving injection treatments at the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic in Livingston County. The victims received epidural injections of a steroid called methylprednisolone.
The medication was compounded and produced at NECC in Framingham, Massachusetts and shipped to the clinic.
The victims are Donna Kruzich, Paula Brent, Lyn Laperriere, Mary Plettl, Gayle Gipson, Patricia Malafouris, Emma Todd, Jennie Barth, Ruth Madouse, Salley Roe and Karina Baxter.
“Cadden ran his pharmaceutical lab with a shocking and abhorrent disregard for basic safety rules and practices, and in doing so he tragically killed eleven Michigan patients,” Nessel said. “Wherever you are in this country, if your greed harms and kills Michigan residents, my office will make every effort to enforce the fullest extent of the law. Patients must be able to trust their medications are safe, and doctors must be assured they aren’t administering deadly poison. My office has worked closely with the families of these victims, and we’ve ensured that this plea fits their desire for closure and justice.”
Authorities say 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.”
Cadden was charged with 11 counts of Second-Degree Murder in 2018 following an investigation in 2013. He was found guilty of 57 criminal charges in federal court in 2017. He served 14.5 years in prison.
The sentence from the plea deal will be served concurrently with the federal sentence.
The Michigan case was paused by former Michigan AG Bill Schuette until the federal trial was complete at the request of federal prosecutors, the statement said.
A $200 million settlement was reached between NECC and several affiliated companies, and the victims and their families in 2015. The Michigan victims or their families received a total of $10.5 million.
Cadden appealed the state charges to the Michigan Supreme Court following him being bound over to stand trial in late 2020. The case was sent back to the 44th Circuit Court in Livingston County. The original ruling was upheld in 2022.
The majority of the 11 victims’ families supported the AG offering a plea deal. “Surviving parents, spouses, and adult children of the deceased victims told victim advocates with the department they hoped to find solace in resolution, anticipation for the matter to finally be concluded, and that the sentencing agreement was acceptable to their want for justice,” the statement said.
Cadden will be sentenced on April 18 in 44th Circuit Court.