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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/05/03/drug-take-back/">https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/05/03/drug-take-back/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/05/03/drug-take-back/"><span style="color:blue"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;color:blue"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/05/03/drug-take-back/"><span style="color:blue;text-decoration:none">Who should pay
for disposing unused drugs? Pharma says: not us</span><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><img border="0" width="493" height="278" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image005.jpg@01D1A51F.FDBFCDF0" alt="https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DrugTakeBack_AP_120428134817-1024x576.jpg"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Keith Srakocic/AP<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Drug companies do not want to pay for retrieving and disposing unused prescription medicines.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">By
<a href="https://www.statnews.com/staff/ed-silverman/"><span style="color:blue">Ed Silverman</span></a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/Pharmalot" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">@Pharmalot</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">May 3, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">There are countless unwanted pills and syringes in households across the country, but it takes money to safely dispose of these medicines, and the
pharmaceutical industry is trying to avoid picking up the tab.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The resistance comes as the state of Massachusetts and local governments in California and Washington have passed laws that require drug makers to
finance take-back programs for unused prescription medicines — driven in part by worries about leftover prescription painkillers getting into the wrong hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">So far, the political pressure has been relatively contained. But still more cities, counties, and even federal lawmakers are pursuing similar laws.
And with <a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/26/drug-abuse-take-back/" target="_blank">
<span style="color:blue">momentum growing</span></a> for these initiatives, drug makers are worried about their bottom lines.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">They ought to dispose of such concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Although costs can vary depending upon regional factors, take-back programs are estimated to cost about one cent for every $10 in sales, according
to the <a href="http://www.productstewardship.us/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Product Stewardship Institute</span></a>, a nonprofit environmental policy group that supports drug take-back programs. In Alameda County, Calif., which launched the
first take-back ordinance last year and has become a model for other local governments, officials have estimated the cost at roughly $330,000 a year on product sales of $930 million (although a pharmaceutical industry trade group pegged the price higher, saying
it could reach $1.2 million annually).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Zoom out to the rest of the country, and such expenses can add up — especially if, as drug makers predict, these kinds of drug remediation programs
become more common nationwide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/26/drug-abuse-take-back/"><span style="color:blue"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/26/drug-abuse-take-back/"><span style="color:blue;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="75" height="75" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image006.jpg@01D1A51F.FDBFCDF0" alt="https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Pills_AP99225762-60x60.jpg"></span><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:blue"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/26/drug-abuse-take-back/"><span style="color:blue">Read More<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue"><a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/26/drug-abuse-take-back/"><span style="color:blue">Pharma pushed by investment funds to pay for drug take-back programs
<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The pharmaceutical industry has adopted a range of tactics to avoid having to pick up the tab.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Trade groups initially tried for a legal dodge, but last year the US Supreme Court
<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/05/26/pharmaceutical-industry-must-pay-for-drug-take-back-programs/" target="_blank">
<span style="color:blue">refused</span></a> to hear the industry’s objections. So now drug companies have taken to lobbying at the local level to block take-back programs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">In Los Angeles County, for example, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association started calling residents warning them that a proposed drug take-back
program would increase local taxes — even when it would be drug makers on the hook.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The group, which represents companies that sell over-the-counter drugs, provided form letters outlining its complaints for people to mail to the county
supervisor. “All I had to do was sign it and send it in,” said Carol Royce-Wilder, a photographer in Los Angeles. “I was led to believe it was about consumer rights. It was very misleading.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">In an interview, a spokeswoman for the association did not address the letter-writing campaign, but argued that the county legislation would create
“an expensive, inefficient, unworkable, and ineffective program” and “do little to accomplish the goals the county is seeking to resolve.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Meanwhile, several industry trade groups are supporting a bill in the California state assembly that would require local governments to, instead,
adopt a state-run — and state-financed — take-back program. In effect, this could block cities and counties from seeking industry funding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The industry groups have offered to contribute $5 million over five years to a nonprofit entity for educating consumers about disposal. What is meant
by consumer education, however, is up for interpretation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">In 2014, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the largest such trade group in the country, launched a website called “<a href="http://myoldmeds.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">My
Old Meds</span></a>” that recommends unused drugs should be placed with cat litter, sawdust, or coffee grinds in plastic bags and then tossed in the trash.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">This disposal strategy, PhRMA claims, is a more environmentally friendly option than flushing pills down the toilet, and it makes the meds less palatable
for would-be drug abusers. But the Product Stewardship Institute maintains this approach should generally be reserved as a last resort, and the US Food and Drug Administration recommends it only when a take-back program is not available.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">A PhRMA spokeswoman said that consumers need options: “Most people don’t know what to do at all.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">It’s understandable that industry is pushing back. Drug makers have a responsibility to their shareholders, which means they must reduce or at least
minimize costs. But the companies also have social responsibilities that include protecting the environment and thwarting further drug abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The pharmaceutical industry might want to consider balancing these objectives and take back its objections.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#0000CC"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#0000CC"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#000099">Deborah L. DeBiasi<br>
<b>Email: <a href="mailto:Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov"><span style="color:#000099">Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></a><i><br>
</i></b>WEB site address: <a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/"><span style="color:#000099">www.deq.virginia.gov</span></a><br>
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality<br>
Office of Water Permits <br>
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program<br>
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#000099"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx"><span style="color:#000099">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#000099">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218<br>
Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219<br>
PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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