Jordan Hospital 'Occasionally' Purchased Ameridose Products

Federal Food and Drug Administration inspectors saw insects and a bird while inspecting Ameridose, a Westborough facility that shares owners with the Framingham specialty phramcy connected to a national meningitis outbreak, WCVB reported today.

The insects were seen "within 10 feet of a supposedly sterile area where drugs are manufactured," WCVB reported. "In another case, inspectors reported a bird flying into a room where drugs are stored."

Jordan Hospital had used drugs produced by Ameridose, but does not do so any longer.

"Prior to the FDA and Board of Pharmacy closure of Ameridose, Jordan Hospital, like other hospitals, occasionally purchased limited quantities of products that are often in short supply," Jordan Hospital spokesman Christopher Smalley said.

Smalley said Jordan patients experienced "no adverse events...from Ameridose products," and that Jordan "no longer uses products from Ameridose."

"To ensure the highest-level of quality for our patients, we prepare the necessary products in our Pharmacy Department using aseptic techniques and adhering to national standards," Smalley said.

Regarding New England Compounding Center and the meningitis outbreak caused by steriod injections produced at the company's Framingham facility, Smalley said Jordan does not use the steriod blamed for 32 deaths, "or any other steriod medication prepared by NECC.

"The steroid injections used at Jordan Hospital are commercially prepared by drug companies routinely inspected by the Food and Drug Administration."