By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A trial has been ordered for two men charged with the deaths of 11 Livingston County residents.

Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin were charged with second degree murder in 2019 by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for their roles in running the New England Compounding Center. Cadden was part owner and Chin was supervising pharmacist at the facility, in which authorities say lax conditions were allowed to infect steroids produced there that led to the 2012 outbreak that killed more than 100 people nationwide and sickened nearly a thousand others. Investigators connected the compounding pharmacy to Michigan clinics, including Michigan Pain Specialists in Genoa Township, which had dispensed the NECC contaminated steroids.

In court on Wednesday, 53rd District Court Judge Shauna Murphy ruled there was enough evidence for the pair to stand trial, that the men had “knowingly created a high risk of harm” through their actions and had “placed profits and greed above discretion.” Previous testimony included that from two former NECC pharmacy technicians who related routine violations they observed in the pharmacy’s clean room, including falsifying cleaning logs, rusty equipment and drugs that had not been tested being shipped out anyway.

Cadden and Chin remain in custody at the Livingston County Jail, where they were transferred late last year from federal facilities in Pennsylvania where they were serving time from a previous conviction in the case.