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DENVER, CO – The House today passed legislation to enhance Colorado’s drug compounding laws to protect patients’ access to individualized prescription medication. HB26-1262 passed by a vote of 61-1.
“Recent federal court decisions have jeopardized pharmacists’ ability to safely and effectively compound prescription medications that patients need,” said Rep. Katie Stewart, D-Durango. “Patients in my community are already feeling the effects of these changes, and we need to do more to ensure our health care providers can continue to administer individualized medication across the state and our country. This bill safeguards patient access to health care by codifying Colorado’s rules surrounding compounding.”
“From allergies to smaller dosages, there are many reasons health care professionals utilize compounding to meet the needs of patients," said Rep. Rebekah Stewart, D-Lakewood. “This bill codifies compounding rules and regulations in state law to ensure that patients can continue accessing individualized medication at an affordable rate. Our legislation protects health care professionals' ability to treat patients' safety through compounded medications.”
HB26-1262 safeguards Colorado’s compounding rules from changes in federal law. This bill provides necessary clarity in state law to protect the longstanding compounding practices used across hospitals, clinics and local pharmacies. Concentrated albuterol, a medication used to treat severe bronchospasms, asthma, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), is created in Colorado’s compounding facility that serves patients nationwide.
Conflicting federal court decisions have created uncertainty for our state and the cross country patients that rely on Colorado. This bill establishes clear, statutory language surrounding compounding and allows Colorado to safely continue best practices that have guided compounding for decades.
Compounding is a common practice used to prepare a medication in a different strength, form or ingredient combination to meet the unique needs of a patient. Hospitals, doctors, dentists, pediatricians, and hospice care rely on compounding when the commercial product doesn’t work for a particular patient. For example, if a patient is unable to safely swallow pills, they could be better served with liquid or intravenous versions of the medication that is not readily available on the market.
By updating Colorado’s statutes to clearly align our compounding rules with federal law, this bill protects patients’ access to individualized medication and avoids
confusion for regulators, prescribers and compounding providers.