States may need to tweak gener­ic drug laws to in­crease ac­cess, re­searchers find

Over the years, more than 30 states have adopt­ed new laws re­quir­ing pa­tient con­sent or no­ti­fi­ca­tion for phar­ma­cists be­fore cheap­er gener­ic meds could be pro­vid­ed to pa­tients. But a group of 3 Har­vard re­searchers says the bar­ri­er is high enough to steer pa­tients to­ward more ex­pen­sive drugs, and they want the le­gal bar­ri­cades dis­man­tled.

To im­prove use of these in­ex­pen­sive and equal­ly ef­fec­tive gener­ic al­ter­na­tives, three re­searchers from Har­vard are call­ing for laws to be amend­ed in 39 states plus Wash­ing­ton, DC, that re­quire such pa­tient con­sent or no­ti­fi­ca­tion for gener­ic sub­sti­tu­tion.

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