(Reuters) - The pharmacy linked to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak said on Friday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

New England Compounding Center, the specialty pharmacy shut down after shipping tainted vials of a steroid, said it will seek to establish a fund to compensate meningitis victims. NECC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, said it made the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.