Usually, the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, an advocacy group tied to the compounding industry, spends about $80,000 a year on lobbying. Not this year. In the first 6 months, it shelled out nearly $440,000 on lobbyists as it finds itself squaring off against pharma over how stringently the compounding industry should be regulated.
With bills to bring compounders under some level of FDA oversight making their way through both the House and Senate, Politico reports that legions of lobbyists are lining up to make their respective points. Groups like the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) want compounders to have to meet the same standards its members do when manufacturing copies of their FDA-approved drugs. Compounders, well, they just want to be left alone by federal regulators.
Citing a survey that showed 40% of compounders would stop making some drugs rather than submit to federal oversight, the owner of one compounding company said patients would be the ones to suffer. "Pharmacists don't want to see the FDA engaged or involved with the regulation of pharmacies," Jim Smith, president of the Professional Compounding Centers of America, tells Politico.
Read more: Opposing sides bring in big lobbying guns in showdown over regulating compounders - FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/opposing-sides-bring-big-lobbying-guns-showdown-over-regulating-compounders/2013-09-24#ixzz2fpmFRamj
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