Continuing Fight to Protect Patient Access to Rx Drug Information and Protect Maine Jobs, Golden Reintroduces Bipartisan Drug Labelling Legislation
WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) reintroduced legislation today that would help ensure that rural Americans, seniors, and their pharmacists have access to important information about their prescription medications. The Patients' Right to Know Their Medication Act of 2022 would require drug manufacturers to include printed inserts containing drug information when they ship their products to pharmacies.
"Many of my constituents don't have good access to the internet or aren't comfortable using it to get important information," said Golden. "By requiring this medication information be printed, our bipartisan bill will help rural Mainers and seniors safely use their medication and support hundreds of jobs in Madawaska and our state's forest products industry."
Pharmacies often provide printed medication information for patients, however they are not required to do so under current law. As a result, some patients never receive important information on the safety, dosage, and other details of their prescriptions with important health consequences. Printed information is particularly important in rural areas where internet access is often unreliable and for senior populations who don't regularly use computers.
The introduction of this bill marks another step in the fight to protect the hundreds of good-paying Maine jobs at the Twin Rivers Paper Company's Madawaska Paper Mill. In 2021, Golden successfully worked to defeat an amendment backed by the pharmaceutical lobby that would have required prescription drug manufacturers to distribute information electronically rather than include a paper insert. Twin Rivers Paper in Madawaska is the leading manufacturer of the paper inserts and employs over 500 people.
Reps. Buddy Carter (GA-01), Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02), and Bruce Westerman (AR-04) joined Golden to introduce the bill.
A copy of the bill can be found here.
###