Statement by Ralph G. Neas, President and CEO, GPhA, on Passage of Supply Chain Safety Legislation in the House

PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC (June 4, 2013) — The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) commends the advancement of the Safeguarding America’s Pharmaceuticals Act (H.R. 1919), legislation that takes important steps to improve the safety and security of the prescription drug supply chain.

Now that the bill has passed the House, GPhA looks forward to continued collaborative efforts with lawmakers to pass legislation that improves identifying information for medicines on the market, bolsters the ability of regulators to detect counterfeiters, and makes needed product recalls or returns more timely and efficient.

In particular, we applaud efforts by the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Health Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), to bring us closer than ever before to an achievable supply chain security solution.

GPhA strongly supports efforts that help set the stage for adoption of a pragmatic, uniform national standard for electronic prescription medicine tracking. In addition, we support enhanced e-labeling that increases patient safety by modernizing the information exchange between pharmacies and manufacturers.

Americans deserve the predictability and reliability that a single, uniform federal standard for medicine identification will make possible.

We look forward to further Senate action on this critical issue. GPhA and its members remain committed to working with Congress to develop a solution that provides an achievable roadmap for a safe, secure prescription drug supply chain.