Daily Health Policy Report
U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert on Monday in a New York federal court granted an injunction that further delays part of a counterfeit drug law that would have taken effect last Friday, "strik[ing] a blow against FDA efforts to curb counterfeit drugs," the Wall Street Journal reports. The Prescription Drug Marketing Act requires only "secondary wholesalers," which buy drugs from sources other than the drugs' manufacturers, to provide a record of every middleman that handles the drug. "Authorized distributors" — wholesalers that buy drugs directly from manufacturers — are exempt from the pedigree requirement. Because of lobbying efforts, the 1998 law was delayed several times, during which time the number of counterfeit drug cases grew.
05 December 2006