Senate committee exempts antipsychotics from step‑therapy restrictions

The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee approved a bill adding antipsychotic therapy to exceptions in step‑therapy protocols for prescription drugs.

Senator Justin Boyd, a pharmacist, told the committee antipsychotic medications can act differently for individual patients and that substituting one antipsychotic for another is clinically problematic. He said the change would allow doctors and pharmacists discretion to select the most appropriate medication without step‑therapy constraints that require trying a cheaper medication first.

Senator Boyd noted an exception: where brand and generic are the same drug, substitution may still be allowed. He also told the committee that the bill’s fiscal note indicated no material fiscal impact and that the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) supports the measure.

With no opposition signed up, Senator Boyd moved the measure and the committee approved the bill.