UPDATED: Markey: Compounding Pharmacies 'Fall into a Regulatory Black Hole'

said coumponding pharmacies like, New England Compounding Center, at the center of a national meningitis outbreak, fall into a "regulatory black hole."

As the , the Congressman sent a letter to Food and Drug Administrator Margaret Hamburg.

No cases have been confirmed in New Hampshire, but 186 patients at Pain Care LLC in Merrimack and Somersworth may have been injected with some of the compromised steroid.

In the letter, he questioned the FDA on how many compounding pharmacies are their in the United States, beyond Framingham-based New England Compounding Center. He suggested legislation may be needed to strengthen the regulatory process of these specialty pharmacies.

The . Last week, the government told doctors to not use any of the company's products, but over the weekend

The CDC said Monday, as many as 13,000 people may have received a steroid shot. Health officials do not know how many of the shots, dating back to the summer, could be tainted with fungal meningitis.

While the company was licensed in all 50 states. The company and health officials believe none of the tainted steroids were distributed in Massachusetts. Products by the company were distributed in the Bay State.