[Pharmwaste] drug samples

[Jackson, Jennifer]

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?