Kill Shot

A Shadow Industry, a Deadly Disease

By: Jason Dearen

Narrated by: Jason Dearen

An award-winning investigative journalist's horrifying true crime story of America's deadliest drug contamination outbreak and the greed and deception that fueled it.

Two pharmacists sit in a Boston courtroom accused of murder. The weapon: the fungus Exserohilum rostratum. The death count: 100 and rising. Kill Shot is the story of their hubris and fraud, discovered by a team of medical detectives who raced against the clock to hunt the killers and the fungal meningitis they'd unleashed.

"Bloodthirsty" is how doctors described the fungal microbe that contaminated thousands of drug vials produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC). Though NECC chief Barry Cadden called his company the "Ferrari of Compounders," it was a slapdash operation of unqualified staff, mold-ridden lab surfaces, and hastily made medications that were injected into approximately 14,000 people. Once inside some of its human hosts, the fungus traveled through the tough tissue around the spine and wormed upward to the "deep brain," our control center for balance, breath, and the vital motor functions of life.

Now, investigative journalist Jason Dearen turns a spotlight on this tragedy--the victims, the heroes, and the perpetrators--and the legal loopholes that allowed it to occur. Kill Shot forces a powerful but unchecked industry out of the shadows.

Powerful and Must Read

I just finished listening to Jason Dearen's chilling account of the details surrounding the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak as a result of contaminated New England Compounding Center (NECC) vials of steroid injection that killed dozens and sickened hundreds across the US. This is a MUST READ for all pharmacists, pharmacy students, pharmacy technicians, public health professionals, and anyone else involved in the compounding industry. The description of the filthy and appalling conditions of the cleanrooms and unprofessional and negligent behavior of the staff at NECC were disheartening to hear and it is important that these details are shared to prevent these types of tragedies from being repeated. As a pharmacist who has worked in cleanrooms, ensuring patient safety and quality are the top priority each day. Thank you Jason Dearen for this important publication and outlining the tragedy surrounding this incident.

keep this in mind

before you get any injection or take any medicine stop saying you did your research before receiving the injection or the medicine.
YOU ARE THE RESEARCH!

A shocking insight into compounding pharmacy

As a pharmacist, I have worked with compounded injectable medications for over 14 years. I was very familiar with the New England Compounding Center case. However, I was shocked to learn many of the details of this case. The criminal negligence of this pharmacy is sickening. And yet, I was dismayed to hear how little has changed from a government oversight standpoint in its wake. This book is an eye opening experience for the pharmacy industry and the general public alike.

Exceptionally good reporting!

This is a story that needed to be told. From a consumers standpoint this is so telling and informative.

Excellent, but lacks details

This book is a nice summary of the tragic 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by a product compounded by the New England Compounding Center. It does a good job of providing a summary of the cases, the pharmacy and the victims. But as someone with intimate knowledge of the case, I can say that the book doesn't do a good enough job of detailing the poor record of NECC leading up to 2012 or the equally poor responses from the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy and the US Food and Drug Administration. In fairness to the author, a book that includes all these details would likely be four times as long as this book.