Thank you, supporters! Your support is creating historical moments and protecting patients like my son!
What a great win in Oklahoma as the regulation of mail order pharmacy temperatures moves on to the legislators and then onto the governor. Also, this week Texas State Board of Pharmacy will be discussing the medication temperatures during shipping from not only mail order pharmacies but throughout the supply chain. If Texas moves forward for regulation, it will be the first time in our history! I didn't expect that discussion to happen this quickly but am thankful.
It may be shocking to many that medications through transport are not properly regulated.
We did get the ball rolling! This shows the power of our voices, as these discussions started after sharing my son's story and the story of patients from this petition. Afterward, an Oklahoma student shared a study showing that 80% of medications reach unsafe temperatures per FDA guidelines.
If you are from Texas and can attend the Texas Board of Pharmacy Meeting In Austin on 2/7/2023 and can support us or have a personal story to share, I would love to meet you there. The meeting starts at 9.
If you are willing to become an advocate for your state on these issues and attend State Board Meetings when possible, please let me know. If I can, I will meet you there. Right now, patients have seats at these meetings, but they are being taken by corporate executives who only protect profits, not patients. Many Boards are doing a great job of protecting profits because our voices are not there to be heard.
On that note, I want to share some interesting moments at the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy meeting, including a mention of Express Scripts being on the temperature committee. I overheard some of the conversations during the last week's Board meeting. During the temperature committee meetings, Express Scripts agreed to the regulations stating they already offered temperature control/proper packaging. The Board was caught off guard when public comments from Express Scripts showed that Express Scripts changed its mind saying that the regulations would increase costs. Very shady.
CVS also had a lobbyist there. The CVS lobbyist publicly stated that it's hard to tell pharmacists not to ship medications poorly when they get them from manufacturers and wholesalers hot to the touch. Alarming. Many are forced to CVS mail order or retail pharmacies. This was their excuse to postpone the regulation of mail order pharmacies and the Board immediately called the lobbyist out. "Does CVS not have policies and procedures about receiving medications from manufacturers?" one board member asked. The FDA regulates manufacturers. If CVS was receiving hot medications from manufacturers, they should have reported the hot meds to the FDA, and they should not ship them to patients as they could be unsafe. Recently, the FDA issued a warning letter to Family Dollar for unsafe storage in transit. Will the FDA issue a warning letter to the manufacturers or CVS? I'd be surprised.
Other comments came from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association or PCMA, the million-dollar lobbying association for Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts, stating that the regulations were not based on science. That was far from the truth. One response to PCMA was that the regulations proposed by the Board were based upon science from medication testing facilities, Dr. Desmond Hunt, a scientific Liason from United States Pharmacopeia (USP), which is known as the gold standard for medication safety, and several pharmacists. The FDA uses USP for many FDA regulations. One member of the temperature committee even stated that none of the mail order pharmacies provided scientific information showing that medications shipped by them were being handled safely, although that information was requested.
Another shocking appearance was from USPS, who determined that it would raise costs but didn't mention the cost of a $100,000+ transplant when medication fails to work after being stored improperly or when patients have emergency visits due to delays. The USPS members seemed confused about the regulations, as one mentioned that they offer informed delivery, which does little to protect medications from high heat or freezing during transit.
Upon thinking further about the attendance of USPS, I realized that USPS has two Board members who were prior long-term executives from Cigna/Express Scripts. I don't know how much money these executives hold in stock today. In 2020, one of these members had over 13 million dollars in Cigna/Express Scripts stocks. Cigna and Express Scripts have merged.
I'll keep everyone updated when I get back from Texas. I hope to have more history-making news.
Please contact me if you are from Texas or Oklahoma and have a temperature issue story to share.
Please donate here if you would like to further help by supporting our advocacy.
Sending much love and thanks to our supporters and the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy for putting patients before profits!
Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate
email: loretta@uniteforsafemedications.com