When pharmacist Scott Thompson’s father passed away from cancer and congenital heart failure, Thompson was forced to toss 10 of his father’s expensive, unopened prescriptions into the garbage.
“It seemed wasteful, but what else were we going to do with them?” Thompson said.
In an effort to cut down on wasted pharmaceuticals, state Reps. Sara Gelser and Brent Barton have proposed House Bill 2535, which would create a program to collect unused, unopened prescription drugs and redistribute them to uninsured patients.
“At a time when more and more Oregonians are losing their jobs and their health coverage, we need to ensure critical medical supplies are not going to waste,” Gelser said in a statement. “Thousands of uninsured Oregonians are not able to buy the drugs that have been prescribed to save their lives. It is wrong to let these medications be thrown away when there are people who desperately need them.”
Under the proposed bill, the drugs would be redistributed based on need, giving first priority to people with no medical coverage and second priority to people with minimal coverage.
Pharmacies throughout the state do not accept returned prescription drugs even if they are unopened. If HB 2535 passes, Oregonians could return unused prescription drugs to medical clinics, hospitals and pharmacies.
To prevent any questionable prescription drug returns, locations that collect unopened prescription drugs would be required to follow specific procedures to ensure they receive drugs that have not been tampered with. Karen Gardner, a Willamette Valley Cancer Institute Research Center pharmacist, said she is uncomfortable with the bill, even if drug receptacle sites are cautious about how the unused drugs are collected.
“I appreciate what they are trying to do, but there are a lot of variables we can’t account for. How would we know if a patient left the unopened drugs in a hot car?” Gardner said. “I understand they want to reduce waste, but my concern is that pharmacists might become liable for things they have no control over.”
Thirty-seven states have adopted similar legislation. In many of the states, the drug redistribution programs primarily take and dispense expensive cancer and chronic disease medications that would otherwise cost uninsured patients thousands of dollars. A 2005 Harvard study concluded that high medical costs are the most common cause of bankruptcy in the United States.
However, Gardner is not convinced HB 2535 is necessary because of other state prescription programs.
“Most of the cost of cancer treatments are not in the oral drugs,” she said. “Also, there are already state assistance programs for patients who would not otherwise be able to pay for oral treatments.”
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Unused prescriptions not go to waste if bill passes
Daily Emerald
February 9, 2009
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