Senate Bill 0370e1

    SB 370                                         First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to pharmacy; requiring the

  3         Board of Osteopathic Medicine, the Board of

  4         Medicine, and the Board of Pharmacy to provide

  5         recommendations and submit a report to the

  6         Legislature concerning the formulary for

  7         generic and brand-name drugs; requiring the

  8         dispensation of certain drugs that are on the

  9         formulary, in specified circumstances;

10         requiring the removal of specified drugs from

11         the formulary for generic and brand-name drugs;

12         providing that the act does not amend existing

13         law relating to physician's authority to

14         prohibit generic substitution by writing

15         "medically necessary" on the prescription;

16         providing an effective date.

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18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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20         Section 1.  The Board of Osteopathic Medicine, the

21  Board of Medicine, and the Board of Pharmacy must jointly

22  submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2001, which

23  recommends whether the formulary for generic and brand-name

24  drugs required by section 465.025(6), Florida Statutes, should

25  be retained. If the report recommends retention of the

26  formulary established under section 465.025(6), Florida

27  Statutes, the report must specify how further restrictions on

28  generic drug substitution will be based solely on scientific

29  evidence of drug equivalency and what standards and evidence

30  will be used in making such determinations and must estimate

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    SB 370                                         First Engrossed



  1  the costs of making drug equivalency determinations in

  2  Florida.

  3         Section 2.  Effective July 1, 2000, the Board of

  4  Pharmacy and the Board of Medicine shall remove from the

  5  formulary established by section 465.025(6), Florida Statutes,

  6  all drugs that have been determined therapeutically equivalent

  7  or "A-B"-rated in "Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic

  8  Equivalence Evaluations" (Orange Book) published by the

  9  Federal Food and Drug Administration.

10         Section 3.  Notwithstanding any provision of section

11  465.025, Florida Statutes, for the initial prescription or any

12  refill thereunder of a therapeutically equivalent or

13  "A-B"-rated drug that is currently on the negative formulary

14  created under that statute, a pharmacist must dispense the

15  drug unless prior approval to substitute is obtained from the

16  prescriber of the medication. Any refill thereunder of the

17  initial prescription for such a drug must be refilled using

18  only the same drug product by the same manufacturer which the

19  pharmacist last dispensed under the prescription.

20         Section 4.  Nothing in this act shall alter or amend

21  section 465.025, Florida Statutes, as to the existing law

22  providing for the authority of physicians to prohibit generic

23  substitution by writing "medically necessary" on the

24  prescription.

25         Section 5.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

26  law.

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