Lawmakers look for more oversight after Meningitis scare

In the wake of the meningitis scare, some lawmakers are now calling for tougher federal oversight of compounding pharmacies.

The CDC says 13,000 people may have received steroid shots from the Massachusetts compounding center that was linked to the contaminated injections that caused the outbreak. There are at least two pharmacies in Birmingham that do sterile compounding.

Pharmacist Josh Hardin at Pinson Discount Drugs does not do sterile compounding. He says it is too risky and is labor intensive.

While the chances of contaminating a drug are rare, he believes a lot of pharmacists choose to stay away from the method out of fear something could go wrong.

"The first thing in the brain, when making a sterile compound, is concern about whether you'll harm anybody. You want it to be an effective drug but primarily want it to be safe," said Hardin.

On Tuesday, two representatives said they will draft legislation to give the FDA more authority to police the safety of compound drugs.

Copyright 2012 WBRC. All rights reserved.