Responding to recent prescription drug scandals, CALPIRG has teamed with Senator Jack Scott (D-Altadena) to introduce legislation in Sacramento to make sure that drug companies come clean about the safety of their medicines. The Prescription Drug Right-to-Know Act (SB 1683), would require drug companies to publicly disclose the results of their clinical trials for all drugs sold in the state. Had it been in place prior to the Vioxx scandal, doctors would have known the potential risks of prescribing a painkiller linked to heart attacks and strokes. If passed, the bill would be the strongest of its kind in the country. In part because federal efforts have stalled, state PIRGs in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina are also working to pass similar legislation.
The Prescription Drug Right-to-Know Act applies to all FDA-approved medicines sold in California and would give everyone with an internet connection access to the results of pharmaceutical industry-sponsored clinical trial conducted over the past several decades.
In addition to addressing safety concerns, the legislation would also tackle the problem of overpriced and underperforming medicines. Researchers, doctors and the general public will have access to the health and effectiveness studies conducted by manufacturers, enabling them to clearly see which medicines are effective. Once accurate drug-to-drug comparisons can be made, drug companies will have a much harder time convincing doctors and patients that expensive brand-name drugs are worth two or three or ten times the price of equally safe and effective older or generic drugs.
The Senate Health Committee will hold a hearing on the bill this spring, where CALPIRG expects PhRMA, the trade association for the drug companies, will gear up to try to defeat it. Contact: Emily Clayton, 415-622-0039 x301, eclayton@calpirg.org, www.calpirg.org.
