STAND. COM. REP. 1226

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1361

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1361, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to improve patient outcomes and reduce drug costs to consumers and third party insurers by:

    1. Making approved, therapeutically equivalent generic drugs substitutable within days of a new generic product release; and
    2. Expediting the removal of nonequivalent drugs from the state formulary.

The Hawaii Medical Service Association, Hawaii Pharmacists Association, The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and Kaiser Permanente testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that one of the drivers fueling the rising cost of health care is the increased demand for prescription drugs. Drug therapeutic equivalency evaluations of the Food and Drug Administration are available to pharmacists and other interested parties months before the same information is available through hardcopy publications. This measure will speed

up the process through which a generic drug becomes available to Hawaii's consumers and can offer dramatic cost savings to consumers and third party insurers.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1361, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce,

 

____________________________

KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair