Mass. pharmacy owners got $16M in final months

BOSTON (AP) - The owners of a pharmacy linked to a fatal meningitis outbreak received more than $16 million in wages and payouts during the firm's final months.

Four family members who served as the New England Compounding Center's directors received the money between the end of December 2011 and the end of November 2012.

Records show the Framingham firm's majority shareholder, Carla Conigliaro, received the largest amount, $8.7 million.

The filing late Friday also showed the company was growing. Before the company shut down in early October, its net sales were $32 million and on pace to double in two years.

The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late December.

The pharmacy produced a contaminated steroid blamed for a fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed 44 and sickened more than 600.