Esty Backs Legislation to Protect Patients
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (CT-5) hailed the passage of HR 1919, the Safeguarding America's Pharmaceuticals Act of 2013, bipartisan legislation that would tackle counterfeit prescription drugs, help prevent increases in drug prices, avoid additional drug shortages, and eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of duplicative government red tape on local pharmacies, drug manufacturers, and wholesale distributors.
“This affects patients, and this affects both large and small businesses in Connecticut,” Esty said. “Counterfeit prescription drugs have already reached some of the sickest patients, including cancer patients. We need federal action in order to tackle this problem without creating a state-by-state patchwork of regulations that will hurt local businesses. I’m proud to support this commonsense legislation that will strengthen protections for Connecticut patients and keep down costs for small and large Connecticut businesses in the prescription drug supply chain.”
The Safeguarding America's Pharmaceuticals Act of 2013 would help secure the pharmaceutical supply chain by establishing a national standard of tracing requirements for pharmacies, manufacturers, and wholesale distributors based on changes in ownership.
By replacing the current patchwork of multiple state laws with a national standard, the bill would eliminate duplicative red tape for Connecticut businesses in the pharmaceutical supply chain including small community pharmacies, and large employers like Boehringer Ingelheim and Medline Industries in Danbury.
The bill was introduced by Republican Congressman Bob Latta of Ohio and Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson of Utah. The bill must be passed by the Senate and signed by the President before it becomes law.