From the Director

We are on our summer schedule, so this is the only newsletter we'll send in the month of July, unless there's breaking news.  Our home base in Maine is beautiful- hope you get to enjoy the summer somewhere nice as well!

Here are some recent articles we think are interesting. We also post regularly on our Facebook page and our website, so check them out.  Also, our office is still fielding calls all summer long regardless of vacation schedules, so give us a call if there's breaking news of interest or you want help or information on state policy. 

Massachusetts gift ban.  The best news of the month is that Massachusetts has NOT repealed its groundbreaking pharma gift ban. It also has kept the Bay State-only ban on retail coupons for pharmaceuticals and continued some funding for academic detailing. Read more

Iowa drug depository.  Iowa has pioneered a program that receives unused prescription drugs, mostly from long term care facilities, and redistributes them through a unique non-profit, state-assisted pharmacy.  Learn more

PBM issues in the states. Consumers in Texas and Maine were on the losing end of of the votes on bills regarding pharmacy benefit managers.  Maine's new GOP-led legislature and Governor succeeded in repealing the state's pathbreaking PBM transparency and anti-fraud law, and Texas lawmakers lost their battle to prevent PBMs that engage in acts of fraud from contracting with the state's Medicaid managed care program. Read more

Interested in the impact of marketing to kids? Maine was shot down when it tried to regulate predatory marketing of pharmaceuticals to kids and told COPPA does the job already.  If you're interested in doing something about the issue, send in comments to the Federal Trade Commission about proposed changes to rules under COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The changes don't necessarily help.

Trade policy and drug prices. Pharmaceutical pricing issues are front-and-center in the debate over the Korea-US free trade agreement under consideration by Congress, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement still under negotiation. Read about why these agreements need to be fixed. There is plenty of concern about trade agreements in other countries, and the potential to limit access to generic AIDS drugs and other medications.

Don't forget to check out summer legislative conferences of interest including NCOIL, which will focus on trade issues, including impacts on pharmaceutical policy, later this week on July 14 during its Annual Meeting in Newport, and NCSL which has meetings on trade August 8 and on health policy throughout its Legislative Summit in San Antonio.   

Sincerely, Sharon Treat    

The Latest News From the States

Massachusetts hands big pharma a rare defeat.  Massachusetts will continue to ban drug industry gifts to docs, including restaurant meals, according to this Pharmalot report: "After months of contentious debate, the Massachusetts legislature reached accord on a state budget last night, but the many provisions failed to include a long-standing effort to repeal the 2008 law that bans drug and device makers from giving gifts to docs. And the budget also failed to overturn a Massachusetts ban on coupons - the only such state ban in the country (read the budget)."  The budget also provided some funding for academic detailing.  NLARx Board Member Senator Mark Montigny and longtime participant and current NCSL President Senator Richard Moore were moving forces behind the gift ban and its retention.

Iowa's model drug repository program continues to thrive. Iowa is a pioneer when it comes to drug redistribution.  The state has the only comprehensive statewide drug donation & distribution program.  The program has helped more than 15,700 Iowans since it began in 2007, said Jon Rosmann, executive director of the Iowa Prescription Drug Corporation, which administers the program through the Iowa Department of Public Health. As the Des Moines register reports, "In its first year, the drug donation program served 780 patients and had 318,427 units donated - everything from medications to bandages. By 2010, that grew to 6,237 patients, with more than 1 million units donated. In all, $3.2 million worth of medications and supplies have been shipped." The corporation also administers a medication voucher program, offering limited generics for hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, depression and pre-/post-natal care. 

PBM & other battles in Maine and Texas.  Republican majorities in the Maine Legislature voted for LD 1116 and repeal of Maine's 2003 PBM transparency and fraud-prevention law.  As signed by the Governor, Public Law 443 does include some minimal protections for pharmacists, but these are largely window-dressing compared to the current law and the legislation pharmacists supported that would have given pharmacists greater audit and other rights.