Contents - Volume 5, No. 1

Noncontrolled Prescription Requirements

The first in a series of six self-study continuing education articles that will appear in Pharmacy Law in 1998. The information required on noncontrolled prescriptions as well as the requirements for labels, documentation of filling, refilling and partial filling are included in this article.

Rules and Regulations

The warning statement required by the FDA on products containing iron in solid dosage forms is reviewed as well as the new package requirements for those products that contain 30 mg or more of elemental iron per dosage unit. The recent federal regulations concerning compounding by pharmacists are reviewed. Information is included about the FDA's concern that compounding of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine products in pharmacies poses a serious health risk. A proposed amendment that will allow registered physician assistants to prescribe controlled substances to outpatients is reviewed.

Mailbag

• May a pharmacist add a condition code to a nontriplicate controlled substance prescription?
• Why is Fiorinal® classified as a controlled drug while Fioricet® is not?
• Has the DEA increased the time allowed on follow-up prescriptions for oral orders of controlled substances?
• May physician samples be dispensed by an institutional pharmacy to outpatients?
• If a prescriber doubles the dose of a patient's medication, can the pharmacist double the quantity dispensed?
• Is a hospital's home-care division allowed to dispense materials obtained at hospital prices to their at-home patients?