[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 99 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 99

To encourage consumers to consult with their pharmacists in connection 
      with the purchase and use of over-the-counter drug products.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 12, 1997

 Mr. Daschle submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
               the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
To encourage consumers to consult with their pharmacists in connection 
      with the purchase and use of over-the-counter drug products.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Food and Drug Administration has proposed that the 
        content and format of over-the-counter (OTC) drug product 
        labels be made more user-friendly to help consumers better 
        understand how to properly use these medications.
            (2) Almost 60 percent of total OTC drug product sales of 
        $29,000,000,000 are made by community retail pharmacies, where 
        a pharmacist is available for consultation with the consumer 
        about the product.
            (3) A significant number of potent prescription medications 
        have been switched to OTC status over the last few years and 
        others are likely to be switched over in the next few years. 
        Many consumers may be unaware of the potential problems that 
        may occur when OTC and prescription drugs are inappropriately 
        used together, and should be encouraged to consult with their 
        doctor and pharmacist. The pharmacist may have the only 
        complete record of all the medications being taken by the 
        consumer that would help avoid these problems.
            (4) Pharmacists can help the consumer select the most cost-
        effective OTC drug product based on the symptoms presented to 
        the pharmacist.
            (5) Interaction with the pharmacist on using OTC drug 
        products is particularly important for older Americans, who 
        already use one-third of all prescription drug products and 
        one-third of OTC drug products. As the population ages, older 
        Americans are expected to use almost half of all OTC drug 
        products by the year 2000. According to recent studies, the 
        health care system, including the Medicaid and Medicare 
        programs, incur billions of dollars in unnecessary costs each 
        year as a result of medication-related problems.
            (6) The importance of consumer interaction with the 
        pharmacist about OTC drug products was recognized by Congress 
        when it required that Medicaid prospective drug utilization 
        review programs include screening for ``serious interactions 
        with nonprescription or OTC medications''.
            (7) Encouraging pharmacist interaction with consumers on 
        OTC drug products is consistent with recent attempts by 
        consumer groups, the pharmacy community, and the Food and Drug 
        Administration to increase the quality and quantity of written 
        and oral information being provided to consumers with their 
        prescription medications.

SEC. 2. CONSULTATION.

    It is the sense of the Senate that the Food and Drug Administration 
should include a provision in the Administration's new final regulation 
on the content and format of over-the-counter drug labels which 
requires that such labels include the phrase ``Consult your doctor or 
pharmacist''.
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