NACDS supports removal of e-pedigree legislation from bill

WASHINGTON The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is calling legislation to mandate electronic drug pedigrees unnecessary and doubts the bill will make it beyond a House committee.

NACDS vice president of government affairs Paul Kelly said that the Safeguarding America’s Pharmaceuticals Act of 2008, sponsored by Indiana Republican Rep. Steve Buyer and Utah Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, will not likely pass as a stand-alone bill. Efforts by Buyer and Matheson to attach the bill to the FDA Globalization Act have likewise not met success.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, supports the FDA Globalization Act, which requires electronic pedigrees for drug ingredients but not finished drugs, the FDA reported.

“We remain very pleased that Chairman Dingell has decided not to include an electronic pedigree requirement, and more importantly the track-and-trace requirement, in that bill,” Kelly said.