18 Representatives Sign on to Compounders' Bill

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Eighteen more U.S. House members have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill which would make significant changes in a 2013 law passed in the wake of a deadly outbreak caused by contaminated compounded drugs.
The 18, all but two Republicans, join Reps. H. Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, and Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, the original sponsors of the bill backed by the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists.
The bill, H.R.2871, would eliminate a requirement that pharmacists have a patient specific prescription for each dose of a drug they compound.
Griffith and other backers of the measure contend it will make compounded drugs more readily available for patients who may need them on an emergency basis. They also charge that federal regulators are using the 2013 law to interfere in matters meant to be handled by state pharmacy boards.
Opponents, including Public Citizen, contend it would create a massive loophole that would lead to a repeat of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by steroids laden with fungus and shipped to health facilities across the country.
The outbreak took the lives of 76 patients among 778 who were sickened. The former president and owner of the defunct Massachusetts compounding pharmacy blamed for the outbreak is serving a nine year federal prison sentence following his conviction on racketeering and mail fraud charges.
The new cosponsors include several from states that were hard hit in the outbreak including Virginia, New Jersey and Tennessee.
Those signing on to the bill also include some who, like Griffith, have received campaign contributions from the compounding pharmacists political action committee known as COMP PAC.
U.S. Rep Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican, has received $10,000 in contributions from COMP PAC in the past two years. Rep. Earl Carter, R-Georgia, got $5,000  and Rep. Pete Session, R-Texas, got $1,000 in 2016.
Others joining on to the bill include Reps. Chris Collins, R-NY, Ted Poe, R-TX, Frank LoBiondo, R-NJ, David Roe, R-TN, Mac Thornberry, R-TX, Andy Biggs, R-AZ, Cathy McMorris, R-WA, Gregg Harper, R-MS, David Young, R-IA, Paul Gosar, R-AZ, Collin Peterson, D-MN, David Brat, R-VA, Neal Dunn, R-FL, Brian Babin, R-TX and Joyce Beatty, D-OH.
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