AB 849

This bill allows a pharmacist to substitute a drug product prescribed to

counteract anaphylaxis with another drug product 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 if certain conditions are met.

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 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 the 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 substitutions allowed under

the bill do not apply to biological products.