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Recent Developments in Health Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

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Recent Developments in Health Law
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Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1996

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References

References

Barringer, F., “FDA Weighs Future of Drug Package Data; Bitter Pill for Consumer Groups,” Washington Post, Aug. 25, 1981, at A17.Google Scholar
60 Fed. Reg. 44,182 (1995). The FDA's August 24, 1995 proposed rule on prescription drug information for patients is promulgated under its general authority to “regulate the marketing of drug products so that the products are safe and effective for their intended uses and are properly labeled.” Id. at 44,210; see 21 U.S.C. 352(a) (1988) (rendering misbranded any drug label that is “false or misleading in any particular”).Google Scholar
Patient Medication Guides have been referred to as “MedGuides,” “Patient Package Inserts” (PPIs), and “Patient Labeling.”Google Scholar
60 Fed. Reg. 44,182, 44,187–88 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id. at 44,230.Google Scholar
Id. at 44,230–32.Google Scholar
44 Fed. Reg. 40,016, 40,017 (1979). Kendellen, R.M., “The Food and Drug Administration Retreats from Patient Package Inserts for Prescription Drugs,” Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal, 40 (1985): At 174.Google Scholar
44 Fed. Reg. 40,016, 40,018 (1979). Patient labeling requirements were established for: Isoproterenol, 33 Fed. Reg. 8812 (1968) (codified at 21 C.F.R. § 201.305); oral contraceptives, 35 Fed. Reg. 9001 (1970) (codified at 21 C.F.R. § 310.501); estrogen, 42 Fed. Reg. 37,636 (1977) (codified at 21 C.F.R. § 310.515); intrauterine contraception devices, 42 Fed. Reg. 25,854 (1977) (codified at 21 C.F.R. § 310.502); and progestational drug products, 43 Fed. Reg. 47,178 (1978) (codified at C.F.R. § 310.516).Google Scholar
44 Fed. Reg. 40,016, 40,018 (1979).Google Scholar
Id. a: 40,025.Google Scholar
Id. at 40,025–29.Google Scholar
The comments may be summarized as follows: “[g]enerally, individual consumers favored patient package inserts while individual physicians, pharmacists, and other health care professionals opposed them.” 45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,756 (1980).Google Scholar
Reinhold, R., “Pills and the Process of Government,” New York Times, Nov. 9, 1980, at 96; and 45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,756–57 (1980).Google Scholar
45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,756 (1980).Google Scholar
Id; and Reinhold, , supra note 14.Google Scholar
45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,757 (1980).Google Scholar
These criteria asked whether the patient labeling would: (1) “affect the patient's decision to use the drug product“; (2) “help prevent serious adverse effects“; (3) “help increase the patient's adherence to the prescribed course of therapy“; and (4) identify an unsafe or ineffective indication that is not included in the drug product's labeling. 44 Fed. Reg. 40,016, 40,031 (1979). Also considered was the belief that patient labeling would “significantly enhance … safe and effective use” of drug products. 45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,758 (1980). Based on these considerations, PPIs were required for the following ten drug products or classes: Ampicillins, benzodiazepines, cimetidine, clofibrate, digoxin, methoxsalen, propoxyphene, phenytoin, thiazides, and warfarin. 45 Fed. Reg. 60,754, 60,754 (1980). On December 5, 1980, bendectin took the place of warfarin on the list of drug products requiring PPIs. 45 Fed. Reg. 80,740, 80,740 (1980).Google Scholar
44 Fed. Reg. 40,016, 40,030–31 (1979).Google Scholar
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“AMA Drug Information Program for Patients,” Public Health Reports, 98 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 97.Google Scholar
“FDA to Stress Rx Patient Information with Publicity Effort in Upcoming Months; Agency Looks to Computerization to Help, Not 1979 Model Patient Package Inserts,” F-D-C Rep. (“The Pink Sheet”), Dec 16, 1991.Google Scholar
60 Fed. Reg. 44,182 (1995).Google Scholar
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Id. at 44,198.Google Scholar
60 Fed Reg. 44,182, 44,198 (1995). The FDA has proposed the following criteria to determine which products pose such a severe public health concern: (1) “products for which patient labeling could help prevent serious adverse effects“; (2) “products that have significant risks about which the patient should be made aware“; (3) “products that pose risks in particular patient populations“; and (4) “products for which patient adherence is crucial to cither the safety or efficacy of therapy with the product, and for which patient labeling would help increase adherence.” Id. at 44,198.Google Scholar
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“FDA MedGuide Initiative is Leaning Toward Minimum Standards,” F-D-C Rep. (“The Green Sheet”), Jan. 23, 1995, at 2.Google Scholar
“FDA Mandatory Patient Information Regulation Put Off Until 2000 to Allow Voluntary Approaches Time to Achieve Goals, Commissioner Kessler Tells NCPIE,” F-D-C Rep., (The Pink Sheet”), (May 15, 1995, at 18.Google Scholar
60 Fed. Reg. 44,182, 44,198 (1995).Google Scholar
“US FDA Seeks Patient Data Sheets for All New Scripts,” Marketletter, Sept. 4, 1995.Google Scholar
“Medguide Lives: FDA Requires Pharmacists to Provide at Least 95% of Patients with Clear, Complete Written Info for Every New Rx by 2006,” Drug Topics, Sept. 18, 1995, at 30.Google Scholar
60 Fed. Reg. 44,182, 44,198 (1995).Google Scholar
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See “FDA Patient Labeling Initiative,” F-D-C Rep. (“The Green Sheet”), Nov. 14, 1994, at 1 (noting that FDA Commissioner Kessler's emphasis on public information campaigns for FDA-regulated products has irked the Republican Congress); and “FDA Medguide Proposal,” F-D-C Rep. (“The Green Sheet”), Apr. 17, 1995, at 1Google Scholar
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In spring 1980, prior to the fall publication of the final rule, the House Appropriations Committee “told the agency to move ‘in an orderly, step-by-step’ manner with its plan to require drug manufacturers to inform consumers of drug side effects and other data with ‘patient package inserts.’ No more than 10 such package inserts should be forthcoming in the next two years.” Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 96th Cong., 2d Sess., Vol. XXXVI at 207 (1980); see also Reinhold, , supra note 14.Google Scholar
On March 28, 1995, the Labor and Human Resources Committee accepted Senator Coats's (R-Ind.) amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Performance and Accountability Act of 1995 (S. 1477), an FDA reform bill sponsored by Senator Kassebaum (R-Kan.). Senator Coats's amendment requires a private committee, comprised of industry, health professionals, and consumer groups, to propose a prescription drug labeling plan within four months. The FDA could implement the proposed MedGuide regulation only if the private committee did not meet this deadline, or the results of a private sector program were inadequate. The pharmacy and pharmaceutical industries support the Coats amendment. At the rime of publication, no action by the full Senate had been reported. “FDA Offices of Supplemental Approvals Would Be Established by Amended Kassebaum Bill; MedGuide Would Be Blocked by Coats Amendment,” F-D-C Rep. (“The Green Sheet”), Apr. 1, 1996, at 5–6.Google Scholar

References

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