Epinephrine for ambulances, therapeutic interchange for drug products prescribed to counteract anaphylaxis, and making an appropriation. (FE)

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill requires that the Department of Health Services purchase and provide to ambulance service providers without charge a set of two epinephrine auto-injectors or a set of two draw-up epinephrine kits for each ambulance operating in the state. Under the bill, an ambulance service provider means an ambulance service provider that is a public agency, volunteer fire department, or nonprofit corporation. The bill also requires that, on an ongoing basis, DHS must, upon request, provide replacement sets to ambulance service providers.

Also, for drug products prescribed to counteract anaphylaxis, this bill allows, if certain conditions are met, a pharmacist to substitute a drug product with another drug product in the same therapeutic class that would, in the opinion of the pharmacist, have a substantially equivalent therapeutic effect even though the substitute drug product is not a drug product equivalent. The bill also provides that a pharmacist who dispenses a drug product for a patient in a hospital may, for a drug product prescribed to counteract anaphylaxis, under the same conditions applicable for drug product equivalents under current law, substitute a drug product with another drug product in the same therapeutic class that would in the opinion of the pharmacist, have a substantially equivalent therapeutic effect even though the substitute drug product is not a drug product equivalent. Current law defines a “drug product equivalent” as a drug product that is designated the therapeutic equivalent of another drug product by the federal Food and Drug Administration as set forth in the latest edition of or supplement to the federal Food and Drug Administration's Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations , commonly known as the Orange Book. As with substitution of drug product equivalents under current law, the therapeutic class substitutions allowed under the bill do not apply to biological products.

Who's behind it

15 lawmakers are its authors⁠. All 15 are Democrats.

8 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.