S.B.
18
126th General Assembly
(As Introduced)
Sen. Wachtmann
BILL SUMMARY
· Permits a pharmacist to compound a limited quantity of a drug that is not commercially available and to provide the drug to a health professional for the purpose of direct administration to patients.
· Specifies that the pharmacist's provision of the compounded drug must occur as an occasional exception to the normal practice of dispensing drugs pursuant to patient-specific prescriptions.
CONTENT AND OPERATION
Current law defines drug "compounding" as the preparation, mixing, assembling, packaging, and labeling of one or more drugs by a licensed pharmacist. Compounding is included as one of the activities that constitutes the practice of pharmacy, but the circumstances under which a pharmacist may compound drugs are limited to the following:
(1) Pursuant to a prescription issued by a licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs;[1]
(2) Pursuant to the modification of a prescription made in accordance with a consult agreement;[2]
(3) As an incident to chemical analysis, research, or teaching;
(4) In anticipation of prescription drug orders based on routine, regularly observed dispensing patterns.[3]
Rules adopted by the State Board of Pharmacy specify that a drug may be compounded and dispensed only pursuant to a specific order issued by a prescriber for an individual patient.[4]
(R.C. 4729.01(C))
The bill specifies an additional circumstance under which a pharmacist may compound drugs. Under this circumstance, pharmacists are given a limited authority to compound and provide drugs without patient-specific prescriptions.
Specifically, the bill provides that compounding may occur pursuant to a request made by a licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs for a drug that is to be used by the professional for the purpose of direct administration to patients in the course of the professional's practice, if all of the following apply:
(1) The drug is not commercially available;
(2) A limited quantity of the drug is compounded and provided to the professional;
(3) The drug is compounded and provided to the professional as an occasional exception to the normal practice of dispensing drugs pursuant to patient-specific prescriptions.
(R.C. 4729.01(B) and (E))
The bill includes technical corrections in the definitions that are used in the statutes governing the practice of pharmacy.
HISTORY
|
ACTION |
DATE |
JOURNAL ENTRY |
|
|
|
|
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Introduced |
01-25-05 |
p. 73 |
S0018-I-126.doc/jc
[1] "Licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs" or "prescriber" means an individual authorized by law to prescribe drugs or dangerous drugs or drug therapy related devices in the course of the individual's professional practice, including the following professionals licensed under Ohio law: dentists; nurses who hold a certificate to prescribe; optometrists who hold a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certificate; physicians authorized to practice medicine, osteopathic medicine, or podiatric medicine; and veterinarians (R.C. 4729.01(I)).
[2] A consult agreement is an agreement between a pharmacist and physician to manage an individual's drug therapy (R.C. 4729.01(D)).
[3] R.C. 4729.01(C).
[4] Ohio Administrative Code 4729-9-21.