California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law legislation that requires sterile compounding pharmacies to obtain additional licensure from the state board before compounding or dispensing sterile drug products, or before shipping these products into California.
The compounding pharmacies will also be subject to random, annual inspections by state board officials. The law also requires covered pharmacies to report any disciplinary or regulatory action taken against the pharmacy by another state within 10 days.
The legislation follows two separate incidents involving widespread patient harm resulting from contaminated medications shipped into California.
"Recent events have made it clear that it's necessary to increase oversight of sterile compounding pharmacies to ensure patient safety," said state Senator Bill Emmerson, the bill's sponsor, in a news release. "I'm pleased that the Governor signed SB 294 into law because we must do everything we can to prevent another patient injury or death."
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