Lab owner charged in 11 Michigan meningitis deaths reaches plea deal

LIVINGSTON COUNTY — A former Massachusetts business owner has pleaded no contest to multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 11 people in Michigan in 2012.

Barry Cadden pled no contest Monday, March 4, in Livingston County's 44th Circuit Court. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the plea in a release Tuesday.

Cadden is the former owner of New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. 

The outbreak stemmed from contaminated epidural injections of the steroid methylprednisolone, compounded and produced at NECC. The deaths in Michigan were connected to injections shipped to the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic, then located in Genoa Township in Livingston County.

In total, the nationwide outbreak resulted in 64 deaths and hundreds of infections. Michigan victims included Donna Kruzich, Paula Brent, Lyn Laperriere, Mary Plettl, Gayle Gipson, Patricia Malafouris, Emma Todd, Jennie Barth, Ruth Madouse, Salley Roe and Karina Baxter.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office began investigating Cadden in 2013. After a federal investigation, he was found guilty of 57 criminal charges in 2017, and sentenced to 14.5 years in prison. He was subsequently charged in Michigan with 11 counts of second-degree murder in 2018.

The plea Monday accompanies a sentencing agreement of 10-15 years’ incarceration, to be served concurrently with the federal sentence. Cadden is scheduled for sentencing at 8:30 a.m. April 18, before Chief Judge Michael Hatty.

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In 2015, a $200 million settlement agreement was reached for victims and their families nationwide, with $10.5 million earmarked for Michigan.

A majority of the families representing the 11 statewide victims supported resolving the criminal charges with a plea deal, according to the release. 

“Cadden ran his pharmaceutical lab with a shocking and abhorrent disregard for basic safety rules and practices, and in doing so he tragically killed 11 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."

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