On Monday, August 16, 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed HB-119, creating the Illinois Drug Reuse Opportunity Program Act, aka I-DROP. This represents a near final step towards the culmination of the Foxglove Alliance’s Hektoen Institute of Medicine’s work with the Palo Alto, CA based not-for-profit SIRUM to establish a prescription drug repository program in Illinois over the past few years. That groundwork eventually led to the 2020 founding of the Illinois Prescription Drug Repository Coalition (IPDRC), a group of public health care institutions, not – for- profit organizations, health care professionals and concerned individuals that helped push HB-119 through during the spring 2021 General Assembly Budget Session.
Another Foxglove Alliance and key IPDRC member was the Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (IAFCC), whose members’ advocacy efforts were critical in the legislation’s passage. I-DROP is expected to provide a much needed option for the IAFCC’s member clinics who all serve uninsured and under-insured Illinoisans.
The I-DROP Act becomes effective on January 1, 2022. In the interim, Hektoen’s Levi Moore, who serves as the Foxglove Alliance coordinator, will also help coordinate the activities of the I-DROP Coalition Implementation Team, a sub-group of IPDRC members that will work on aspects of I-DROP development such as stakeholder and general public outreach, regulatory monitoring and market analysis. A link to Governor Pritzker’s press release that includes the I-DROP Act is below:
