Congressman Steve Buyer (R-IN) and Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT) have introduced proposed legislation in the House to safeguard the prescription drug delivery system. Here is an abbreviated overview of their legislative proposal in their own words (italics):

“Safeguarding America’s Pharmaceuticals Act Authors: Steve Buyer (R-IN), Jim Matheson (D-UT) Americans are concerned about the safety of their food and drugs. Each year, we commit billions of dollars to develop new lifesaving drugs and we must protect our market from being tainted by dangerous, unregulated drugs. To better secure our prescription drug delivery system and to give Americans the assurances they need when providing medications to their loved ones, we have been working with stakeholders to draft “Safeguarding America’s Pharmaceuticals Act” which will be introduced shortly. This comprehensive bill seeks to protect Americans from domestic and international threats to our nation’s prescription drugs. The Act calls for:

( 1 ) the destruction of adulterated, misbranded, and counterfeit drugs at our nation’s international mail facilities;
( 2 ) the creation of a uniform federal pedigree standard and preemption of State pedigree requirements;
( 3 ) risk-based serialization of pharmaceuticals;
( 4 ) an identification and tracking system for drugs flowing through our supply chain;
( 5 ) increased State licensing requirements for drug wholesalers;
( 6 ) a grant program for community pharmacies to assist them in acquiring software and hardware necessary to comply with a new tracking system;
( 7 ) incentives for States to assist federal authorities in tracking down drug diverters and counterfeiters; and
( 8 ) a study by federal health and enforcement agencies with recommendations to further secure our pharmaceuticals from drug counterfeiting and diversion.”

Do we need it? Is it redundant? Won’t GS1 do the job?