Kill Shot

A Shadow Industry, a Deadly Disease

By: Jason Dearen

Narrated by: Jason Dearen

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2020 Jason Dearen (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"If you like fast-paced forensic thrillers á la Kathy Reichs, you’ll love this tale of death and mayhem.... A harrowing, fast-paced tale of blind greed and sloppy science." (Kirkus, starred review)

"A gripping journey.... Informative and engrossing, this book is a page-turner about a deadly outbreak and a reckless compounding pharmacy. Recommended for fans of true-life medical thrillers." (Library Journal, starred review)

"This unnerving true tale is a crowd-pleaser for fans of true crime and medical mysteries." (Discover Magazine's Must-Read Science Books)

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.

Exceptionally good reporting!

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

Chilling look at compounding drugs in America

Jason is skilled at narrating his book on Audible, highly recommend. This is true reporting and journalism we need more of in America.

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!

Eye opening

I have worked in the medical device field for 25 years, and I had never even heard of compounding pharmacies. No wonder it is a shadow industry. I found the facts laid out within this book to be very detailed, eye-opening, and infuriating. And scary. The last section of the epilogue contains a vital checklist if you or a loved one is to ever have a procedure or surgery where a medication is going to be injected. Especially in a outpatient/office setting.

Riveting from the start!

An amazing feat of investigative journalism that is delivered in a fast paced, thoughtful manner and lays bare the anatomy and dangers of the compounding pharmacy industry. An absolute triumph.

Fall Out

I work for the main insurer of this pharmacy. I distinctly recall hearing about the deaths of the people who died, as a pharmacy technician AND an employee of the carrier I’m once again disgusted with all the blatant acts of disregard for safety. Sadly, as with so many stories where human lives are lost, the fall out goes much deeper than the obvious.

At the time of these incidents, if we had not had a very good leader at our company we may have been forced out of business. This paddles to the losses of these victims and loved ones but is additional to the crimes committed. This is not the first “pharmacy” crime environment but hopefully opened eyes for many.

My heart aches for the torture these victims physically felt and trauma their loved ones endured. This is a well-written book, thank for bring the details to the forefront and portraying the participants in these acts as the careless criminals they are.

Excellent read

This is my first review, so go easy on me. Kill Shot was recommended by a colleague and I will have to make sure I thank her for the recommendation, as I throughly enjoyed this book. Kill Shot is an excellent portrayal of one of the biggest health disasters to ever take place in the history of pharmacy. Dearen tells a gripping story of greed and, in my opinion, murder. He fully explains compounding in a way that most people would understand, with or without a pharmacy or compounding background. Mr Dearen, thank you for sharing this story with the world.

Must read for Compounding Techs and Pharmacists

As a CPhT recently beginning in the hospital side of sterile compounding I found this a very enlightening but horrifying explanation of an event I've often seen as an example of bad compounding. Hearing the details in such an intimate and well organized retelling of the event gave me a greater appreciation for the expanding regulations as prior to reading/listening this I did not think negligence, misbehavior, and bad actors on this scale could exist. My heart goes out to the recovering and lost, and I hope we can enact meaningful changes that prevent such an attrocity from ever happening again.

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.