The National Community Pharmacists Association is going to bat for local community pharmacists and against the Pennsylvania legislature.
S.B. 405, pending in the Pennsylvania state legislature, would pad the profits of large pharmaceutical manufacturers, while “sticking the bill to patients and employers and burdening independent community pharmacists with unnecessary regulations,” says B. Douglas Hoey, the NCPA’s CEO.
The advocacy organization says SB 405 would bury pharmacists and health care providers in needless red tape to deter prescribing and dispensing of cost-saving interchangeable biosimilars in place of costlier brand name drugs.
“Millions of patients have benefitted from cost-savings generally associated with generic prescription drugs and community pharmacists strongly support their appropriate use,” Hoey said. “Likewise, a new wave of interchangeable biologic products, or biosimilars, is expected to enter the U.S. market in future years and offers significant savings potential to patients and the sponsors of health care plans, such as employers.
If changes proposed in S.B. 405 go through, new drugs will be required to go through an extensive review and approval process by the Food and Drug Administration. The organization says the FDA has publicly warned against legislation similar to S.B. 405 in other states due to the potential to undermine biosimilar cost savings as well as the agency’s proven drug approval efforts.
“This is one health care proposal which state lawmakers should set aside and follow the time-tested medical adage – ‘First, do no harm’.”
The NCPA lobbies for U.S. independent community pharmacies, which it says is an $88.7 billion business.
_______
Top Photo Credit: wallyg via photopin cc
