Getting prescription drugs to the poor

[Rosemary2205]

I have a love hate relationship with AARP but this is a good article with a fabulous idea.

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/old_pills.html

Every year we flush at least $1 billion in prescription drugs down our toilets. We pour them into incinerators; we bury them in landfills. But Moshe Alamaro, an inventor and researcher at MIT with not-just-big-but-colossal ideas—such as building 200-foot ice mountains to fight water shortages—believes he has a solution for unused pharmaceuticals. "We recycle glass and plastic," the silver-haired Alamaro said one recent afternoon, wearing owlish glasses and sitting among the stacks at the MIT library. "Why all the apprehension about doing the same for a bottle of pills?"

snip

Alamaro's plan entails nothing less than wholesale changes to how we think about packaging, distributing, and consuming prescription drugs. Pills would come in tamperproof packs and include a bar code or radio frequency ID to provide such details as dosage amounts and expiration date; a chemical agent would record the drug's exposure to heat and light (which can make many medicines less effective). The packs would be loaded in a Pez-like dispenser, ensuring that unused pills would be untouched and safe for recycling. Patients could then return their medications to processing centers via a drop box or prepaid mailer. The centers would inspect the drugs, and pills in good condition would be available for redistribution.


Full article at the link.

[Horse with no Name]

1. I've always thought this was a good idea

but...the FDA isn't going to do that because it would take money out of Big Pharma's pockets.
You have to remember serving the corporate master. THAT is what is important, not people's health.

[Rosemary2205]

3. California already has a starter program on this

the article details how the state allows non profit middle men to get unused pills from nursing homes into the hands of charity clinics. A few other states are trying but running into some road blocks.

When someone put poison in Tylenol it took less than 3 months to change the packaging. There's no excuse why it could not be done for all prescription medications too.

[Donnachaidh]

2. this would work wonders for those with insanely costly scripts

Did you know that factor, the drug hemophiliacs need, costs $1000 (yes, one thousand) dollars a DOSE?

If you have prsecriptions that are going to go past their date, why can't we give them to someone who can use it immediately? Those drugs get FLUSHED, and all the money spent is flushed, too.

That's an agency I'd readily agree to fund. But keep any re-cycling agency OUT of the hands of Big Pharma. They don't deserve any more profit.

[pitohui]

4. so the idea is that NO ONE would be able to afford drugs

gee, that's terrific

what is the cost of all of this magical gee-whiz packaging?