WASHINGTON (AP) — The House easily approved bipartisan legislation Saturday to improve the safety of customized pharmaceuticals produced by compounding pharmacies.
The measure, approved on a voice vote, comes almost a year after a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people and sickened hundreds more was traced to a compounding company in Framingham, Mass. Inspectors later found unsanitary conditions at the New England Compounding Center, which has since closed.
The measure, aimed at improving how drugs are tracked from production until they are purchased at a drug store, would clarify what sponsors said was confusion over the Food and Drug Administration’s authority over compounded drugs. It would also require the agency to coordinate its oversight of compounded-drug safety with states.
Compounders could voluntarily register as outsourcing facilities, which would bring them under FDA authority. Traditional pharmacies would continue to be overseen mostly by state pharmacy boards.
