The Tennessee Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a measure that would allow pharmacists to compound drugs without having a prescription for a specific patient, a key safeguard that exists under current law.
The measure was approved on a 29-1 vote, without a word of dissent, after a presentation by Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, who is a pharmacist. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, cast the only vote against the bill.
A House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep David Shepard, a Dickson Democrat, has cleared the House Health Committee and is awaiting a House floor vote. Shepard, like Haile, is a pharmacist.
The Tennessee Pharmacists Association pushed for adoption of the bill, which would create a loophole for hospitals and other health care providers to obtain compound drugs without having to identify a patient. It would do so by permitting compounders to ship drugs without having received a patient-specific prescription in cases when a product “is not commercially available.
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