SAN DIEGO (AP) -- California regulators are giving drug makers another two years to start using high-tech tracking devices aimed at fighting counterfeit medications.
The state Board of Pharmacy voted unanimously Tuesday in San Diego to give drug makers until Jan. 1, 2011 to start electronically tracking drugs from the factory to the patient.
The state Legislature had already delayed the requirement once -- to 2009 from 2007.
The pharmaceutical industry says it needs more time to set up computerized systems.
California adopted the tracking requirements in 2004, shortly after a recall of fake batches of the cholesterol drug Lipitor.
