Two pharmacists sentenced for roles in the 2012 meningitis epidemic

Two former pharmacists were sentenced Thursday for their role in a fungal meningitis outbreak nationwide in 2012.

Gene Svirskiy, 38, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and one year on probation. Christopher Leary, 34, was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, according to court documents. The first eight months of Leary's probation will be in house arrest with electronic surveillance.

Fungal meningitis and other infections have been diagnosed in nearly 800 people in 20 states after receiving a tainted drug manufactured by the New England Compounding Center (NECC), a drug-preparation pharmacy based in Framingham, in the United States. Mbadachusetts. More than 100 patients are now dead, making it the biggest public health crisis caused by a pharmaceutical drug, according to US lawyer Andrew Lelling.

The deaths were caused by bottles contaminated with methylprednisolone acetate without preservative, a steroid manufactured by the compounding pharmacy.

"Given that Mr. Leary was the youngest, least experienced, and least guilty of NECC employees, without a criminal background, the sentence was fair, reasonable and fair," said his lawyer, Paul Kelly, in a statement. . "It should also be emphasized that Mr. Leary did not play any role in the composition of the drug that caused the tragic epidemic of meningitis in the spine."

Barry Caden, owner and chief pharmacist of NECC, was sentenced to nine years in 2017 after being convicted of 57 counts of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, postal fraud and introduction of mislabelled drugs into commerce interstate with the intent to defraud and mislead.

Glenn Chin, the former pharmacist supervisor of NECC, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2018 on 77 charges, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and introduction of mislabelled drugs.

A total of 13 NECC defendants were convicted of 178 charges related to the outbreak, according to court documents.

CNN asked Svirskiy's lawyer to comment.

Gabriela Milian, CNN's Olivia Kiely, Shachar Peled and Kylee Tsuru contributed to this report.