SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4601

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: OCTOBER 5, 2026

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4601.

      As amended, this bill requires a pharmacist, or the pharmacist’s designee, to notify a consumer if the pharmacist substitutes a different brand name drug or a nonbrand name drug product of the same established name for a prescribed drug or substitutes a biological product for a prescribed biological product.  Under the bill, a consumer is to be notified of a substitution at the time the substituted drug or biological product is dispensed the first time the drug or biological product is dispensed.

      If a pharmacist further substitutes a drug or biological product previously substituted by the pharmacist, the pharmacist or the pharmacist’s designee is to notify the consumer the first time the new substitution is dispensed.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  require a pharmacist or a pharmacist’s designee to notify a consumer the first time a substituted drug or biological product is dispensed; and

      (2)  clarify that if a pharmacist further substitutes a drug or biological product previously substituted by the pharmacist, the pharmacist or the pharmacist’s designee is to notify the consumer the first time the new substitution is dispensed.