Susan Thaul
Specialist in Drug Safety and Effectiveness
The proposed Drug Quality and Security Act, H.R. 3204, is the current focus of congressional efforts to protect the public from unsafe, ineffective, or otherwise subquality compounded drugs and from the risks of counterfeit and subquality drugs entering the supply chain between the manufacturer and the dispenser. Majority and minority leadership of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions announced an agreement on September 25, 2013, following years of bicameral and bipartisan efforts. On September 27, 2013, Representative Fred Upton, the chair of the House committee, introduced the text, which would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as H.R. 3204. The House passed it by voice vote on September 28, 2013, sending it to the Senate on September 30, 2013. The bill now awaits Senate action.
Title I, the Compounding Quality Act, would create the term outsourcing facility to apply to an entity that compounds sterile drugs in circumstances that go beyond activities that the FFDCA allows pharmacies to do under state regulation. As such, the proposed category could be conceptualized somewhere between a state-regulated pharmacy and a federally regulated drug manufacturer. The bill would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consult with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy regarding submissions from states that concern a compounding pharmacy that may be acting outside what the FFDCA allows. The bill would also maintain the FFDCA section that addresses what is referred to as traditional compounding—wherein a pharmacist or physician compounds a drug to fill a prescription written for an individual patient. It would remove the provision, which has been challenged in court, that forbids a compounder from advertising or promoting a compounded drug.
An entity that compounds sterile drugs and that may not obtain prescriptions for identified individual patients would be able to voluntarily register as an outsourcing facility. If it also complies with a set of listed requirements, an outsourcing facility would be exempt from certain FFDCA requirements on drug manufacturers: adequate directions for use labeling, sale only after FDA approval of a new drug application, and compliance with supply chain activities (that would be added by Title II of H.R. 3204). An outsourcing facility would have to label the product to include the statement “This is a compounded drug,” list active and inactive ingredients, report annually to the HHS Secretary on drugs compounded, be subject to inspection, submit adverse event reports, and pay annual fees (that would be established by this bill) to cover the cost of overseeing outsourcing facilities.
Title II, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, would add FFDCA requirements to be implemented over the next few years. These include that manufacturers and repackagers put a product identifier, including a standardized numerical identifier, on each package or homogenous case. With certain exceptions, exchange of transaction information, histories, and statements would be required when a manufacturer, wholesale distributor, dispenser, or repackager transfers or accepts a drug. Also required would be a system of verification and notification when the Secretary or a trading partner within the supply chain suspects that a product may be illegitimate. The bill would require national standards for the licensing of wholesale distributors and third-party logistics providers. Requirements for the Secretary would include guidance documents, regulations, public meetings, and pilot projects.
The act also would include a timetable and tasks involving the development of an interoperable, electronic, package-level tracking system to begin 10 years after enactment.
Date of Report: October 31, 2013
Number of Pages: 16
Order Number: R43290
Price: $29.95
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