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Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987

Public Law 100-293 · H.R. 1207 · 100th Congress · began in the House

Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Apr 22, 1988 · Health

Sponsor: Rep. John Dingell (D-MI-16)

Cosponsors (41): Rep. Norman Lent,

Passage votes

  • HouseVoice vote
  • SenateVoice vote
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to permit only the U.S. manufacturer of a drug to reimport such drug into the United States, except for emergency medical care.

Prohibits the selling, purchasing, or trading of prescription drug samples or coupons. Prohibits the selling, purchasing, or trading of prescription drugs purchased by a hospital or similar entity or which were donated or supplied at a reduced price to a charitable organization, except as specified within the normal course of group purchasing or for emergency medical reasons.

Permits the distribution of samples only to practitioners licensed to prescribe such drugs or, upon request of a licensed practitioner, to pharmacies of hospitals or health care entities. Requires such distribution of drug samples only upon written request and under a system which requires the return of a receipt to the manufacturer or distributor. Requires such manufacturers and distributors to retain such paperwork for three years. Requires compliance with these and additional requirements for drug samples distributed by other than mail or common carrier, including annual inventories and certain quality and safety control measures.

Requires unauthorized distributors of a prescription drug to inform their wholesale customers of all previous sales of the product before it is sold to them. Requires drug manufacturers to maintain for the public a list of all authorized distributors of record. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidelines for licensing persons to make wholesale distributions in interstate commerce of prescription drugs.

Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations of this Act.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 15 actions.

  1. Apr 22, 1988Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 100-293.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Apr 12, 1988PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Mar 31, 1988FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
  5. Mar 18, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Finance Committee
  6. Dec 11, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Finance Committee
  7. May 5, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Finance Committee
  8. May 4, 1987FloorFloor · Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
  9. Apr 30, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Energy and Commerce Committee
  10. Apr 8, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Energy and Commerce Committee
  11. Mar 31, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Health and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
  12. CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Health and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
  13. Mar 4, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Health and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
  14. Feb 24, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Energy and Commerce Committee
  15. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.