Photo courtesy of Kremers Reference Files University of Wisconsin
Former vice president and senator Hubert H. Humphrey Jr., who was a pharmacist in South Dakota before beginning his political career, co-sponsored the 1951 Durham-Humphrey Amendment.
October 26, 1951:
The Durham-Humphrey Amendment is passed. The bill requires any drug that is habit-forming or potentially harmful to be dispensed under the supervision of a health practitioner as a prescription drug and must carry the statement, "Caution: Federal law prohibits dispensing without prescription."
FDA in 2006
One rare but potentially significant public health concern is the introduction into the drug supply chain of counterfeit prescription medications. The FDA is taking steps to strengthen existing protections against the growing problem of counterfeit drugs. In a report released in June 2006, the agency's Counterfeit Drug Task Force recommended requiring drug distributors
to provide documentation of the chain of custody of drug products—the so-called "pedigree"—throughout the distribution system. The task force also encouraged the use of electronic track and trace technology, such as radio-frequency identification (RFID). This creates an electronic pedigree (e-pedigree) for tracking the movement of the drug through the supply chain.
