[Pharmwaste] drug samples

Megan Fakih Megan.Fakih at SPARROW.ORG
Tue Nov 4 10:32:22 EST 2008


My guess is the drug companies haven't done anything to facilitate the
take back of expired samples and therefore, their reps don't know
a thing about it.  The education on the subject is lacking.  That is
why I was curious if anyone had sent their samples back to the
manufacturer for destruction.  
We are a large hospital in our region and feel that we could make the
reps take the samples back as a part of our hospital policy.  I want
this to be a collaboration between the hospital and the drug reps so we
don't drive them away.  With the current economy the samples are nice
for patients that need them and the physician practices won't consider
not stocking samples for this reason.  
I will keep you posted as we proceed forward with this "project". 




Megan Fakih, RPh, MBA
St Lawrence Campus
Pharmacy Supervisor
1210 W Saginaw St
Lansing, Mi 48915
Phone: (517) 364-6341


>>> "Jackson, Jennifer" <jacksonj at ebmud.com> 10/30/2008 12:35 PM >>>
I'd suggest requesting from them the citation that their taking back
the
drugs is against the law. As far as I know, the only difficulty they
would have is with taking back controlled substances. I'm guessing
that
it's rare that a controlled substance is given out as a sample, due to
inventorying that would be required.

Jen Jackson  |  Resource Recovery & Pollution Prevention Programs |
East Bay Municipal Utility District  |  510.287.0818 |
jacksonj at ebmud.com  
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Megan Fakih [mailto:Megan.Fakih at SPARROW.ORG] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:54 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us 
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Drug sample waste

I work for a large hospital that has many family practice sites that
accept drug samples.  We have tried several tactics to cut down on
sample waste, like encouraging the offices to accept only the amount
they can use, rotating stock, etc. but we still have waste.
I have educated the offices on the FDA's Prescription Drug Marketing
Act
that allows the drug reps to facilitate the shipment of the samples
back
to the drug company for destruction.  Now as they talk to the reps
about
this, the reps are still saying it is against the law for them to
deal with the samples.    I am wondering if anyone has successfully
gotten these drug companies to destroy their own samples.  I realize I
am probably forging new ground here but from a pharmacist perspective,
I
would like to see samples go away and vouchers that can be redeemed at
the pharmacy take their place.  By forcing the drug companies to
destroy
these unused samples I feel we might be able to persuade the drug
companies to turn to vouchers. 

Does anyone have any advice for me? 

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