There’s a growing movement around the US to recycle unused meds for those in need, not into landfills or down the can. One innovator is Phil Baker, PharmD, cofounder and chief exec of Good Shepard Pharmacy in Memphis, a nonprofit supplying at-cost meds to dues-paying members with prescriptions.
And running a free pharmacy technician training program for low-income people. "We've created a pharmacy model that didn't exist before," he said in 2018.
Baker is also president of Memphis-based Remedichain.org, a nonprofit first-of-its-kind national database program to safety-vet and match donated, non-expired meds to needy patients, delivery free by FedEx.
"We've made it as easy as possible for clinicians or any individual to donate a prescription," said Baker...
...The donation process begins by a would-be donor texting #FlipYourScrip to
1-833-999-1003.
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By return-text, donors are prompted to photograph the pill-bottle if unopened —or if opened then the back and front of a pill from it— then attach the photos to the text and click Next. On that following screen go the drug name, dosage, number of pills, and a click for the Next screen, to enter email, zipcode, and hit Submit.
And that’s it — for the initial outreach.
Remedichain follows up by emailing donors a Fedex label and scheduling a Fedex pickup. Alternatively, donors can drop the donated drug by any Fedex store. Shipping is free.
If Remedichain has no patient match for a would-be donation, they text the donor the location of the nearest "take-back box" to enable safe disposal of a medication. The organization tops it off with a "thank you" $5 Amazon gift card via snail mail.
"You'll be helping a vulnerable patient, protecting the environment, and earning rewards all at the same time..."
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At each step of the process, Remedichain has actual, live human staffers on hand to answer questions and coach donors, via phone or text.
...Remedichain "taps back into" the supply chain data and re-creates any missing information, such as manufacturing and expiration dates … This re-creation of the "chain of custody" via blockchain technology assures a medication's origin and quality.
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The specifics are new, but reclamation from the American medical waste stream has precedent, such as My Heart, Your Heart, a US-based program to solicit, sterilize, re-analyze and dispatch pacemakers —some 20,000 to date— to poor and under-developed-countries, for people who could never afford them otherwise.
And earlier efforts date back to the 1990s — as of 2018, 38 states had drug donation and reuse laws in place, notably Iowa, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Georgia. And Guam! With bills going through legislature in yet more, plus WashingtonDC, and may have passed by now. Thirteen states already had cancer drug-specific reclamation laws (Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin). The exact provisions vary from state to state.
But, besides the legal, technical, and technologic challenges, and patient concerns about “where these drugs have been”,
...more than a dozen of these states [did] not have functioning or operational programs. “Operational programs” are those states that have participating pharmacies, charitable clinics, and/or hospitals collecting and redistributing donated drugs to eligible patients. Some common obstacles are the lack of awareness about the programs, no central agency or entity designated to operate and fund the program, and added work and responsibility for repository sites that accept the donations.
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Baker aims to address the stigmas of donated drugs, and set an example of workable programs.
The new #FlipYourScrip initiative is accepting a wide variety of medications, but has a long-standing interest in oncology products, such as oral chemotherapies, because of their expense. This has also led the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to recently endorse the recycling of oral drugs used in cancer so they can be passed onto patients who may not be able to afford them.
Remedichain.org says it "hopes to effectively create a 'national' program by networking the existing state repository programs with cancer clinics, oncology offices, and anyone else who serves vulnerable cancer patients."
"The call to action is "Text #FlipYourScrip to 1-833-999-1003,' "said Baker.
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Here’s hoping more towns and states follow suit, to bring better healthcare to more patients in need, to instigate an additional, genuine nonprofit healthcare field of employment and volunteerism, and to care for the environment better in the process.
Source: Text #FlipYourScrip to Easily Donate
Unused Drugs - Medscape - Mar 10, 2020.