Critics Charge That Drug-Compounding Pharmacies Require Government Oversight

Shiri Berg was a 22-year-college student when she went to a spa in Raleigh, N.C., in late 2004 for laser hair removal. Soon, she was dead, killed by a powerful pain-numbing cream, called Lasergel, that she bought from the spa, applied over a “substantial portion of her body” and covered with plastic wrap, according to state regulators.

The spa’s two doctors were disciplined — one had his license suspended and the other was reprimanded — by the state medical board for dispensing the medication without a prescription. The pharmacy that made the anesthetic cream, Triangle Compounding Pharmacy, was reprimanded by the state board of pharmacy and later warned by the Food and Drug Administration that Lasergel “may be toxic at high doses.”

Read the full story: http://wapo.st/VbdwLT

Source: The Washington Post