COLUMBIA — Missouri was just born. new rules When receiving medicines by mail. While many see this as a step in the right direction, some safety advocates say more needs to be done to protect patients and families.
The Missouri State Board of Pharmacy has enacted new guidelines requiring pharmacies to have a written policy regarding mail-order drugs.
“(The board) is trying to make it very clear that people who mail medications need to be responsible for that,” said Bill Morrissey, a partner at Kilgore Pharmacy in Columbia. “And take care of your patients and have their best interests in mind.”
When medicines are exposed to extreme temperatures, they become less effective and can put patients at risk.
Loretta Borsing, from St. Francois Parish, said her son’s life is at risk from medical supplies being transported in the extreme heat.
Borsing, who lives in Park Hills, is the executive director of Unite for Safe Medications. Borsing’s son Wesley needed a liver transplant when he was 2 years old.
Borsing said her son’s life depends on medication, which he takes every 12 hours. Wesley’s body began rejecting the transplant after taking the medication, which was sent in a bag that was exposed to 102-degree heat. Borsing was forced to take her son to the hospital again.
“We had to go through the fear of losing him again,” Borsing said.
At first, the nurses thought Wesley needed a new medication. But when her doctor prescribed the same medication she was taking at home, Borsing said she was fine. She believes the life-saving medicine was only transported in bags and was damaged by the extreme heat.
Many delivery trucks are not temperature controlled. Federal inspectors recorded a heat index of 126 degrees in the back of the truck. NBC News reported. Morrissey said body temperature is not a uniform concern for all drugs. But with special medications like the one Borsing’s son is taking, that’s possible. Extreme cold and heat can both have an adverse effect on some drugs, Morrissey said.
“Chemicals and pharmaceuticals and things like that break down over time,” Morrissey said. “Just like in any chemical reaction, heat can accelerate the reaction.”
The new rules require pharmacies to have written policies and procedures for shipping medications and notifying patients of shipments and deliveries. This includes shipping medicines in “proper packaging.”
The rule also requires a written policy on what to do if drugs are suspected to have been damaged by “temperature abnormalities.” The Board of Pharmacy defines this as a deviation from the manufacturer’s temperature specifications or tolerances.
If a written policy is not available, the commission stated that industry standards should be used. Under the new rules, patients will also need to be instructed to determine whether temperature conditions are damaging their medication.
Pharmacies are also required to provide contact information to the Missouri Board of Pharmacy under new rules that took effect Dec. 30. The commission regulates dispensaries in Missouri.
Morrissey said such a policy was already in place at Kilgore Pharmacy. The board already has a rule that drugs should be shipped in accordance with the Federal Drug Administration or Federal Drug Administration. United States Pharmacopoeia said Boeing. The United States Pharmacopeia is a nonprofit organization that helps set standards for pharmaceutical products.
“The Board of Pharmacy’s new rules simply require policies and procedures that demonstrate actual compliance with those rules,” Borsing said. “It should already be there.”
Borsing said the problem lies with the large mail-order pharmacies that operate nationwide. Many of these companies are owned by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). In theory, PBMs are supposed to negotiate the best price for drugs for their customers.
But the New York Times investigation We’ve found that PBMs often do the opposite, steering patients toward more expensive drugs and putting local drugstores out of business. Boeing said these companies regularly tout FDA guidelines for safely transporting pharmaceuticals.
Borsing said a local independent pharmacy is now delivering her son’s medication in a temperature-controlled vehicle. He said he appreciates the board is taking action, but expects to see more action in the future.
“As a mother, when I pick up my son’s medications, or when other patients receive their medications in the mail, I want to know that they are stored properly,” Boeing says.
