California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020: opioid antagonists.

Assembly Member Patterson's legislation aims to modify California's prescription drug procurement practices by prohibiting state agencies from awarding noncompetitive contracts for opioid antagonists to manufacturers who have entered into multistate opioid crisis settlements. The measure would add new restrictions to the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, which currently allows state health agencies to enter into both exclusive and nonexclusive pharmaceutical purchasing agreements.

The bill establishes specific parameters around the procurement of naloxone hydrochloride and other FDA-approved opioid overdose treatments. Under the proposed changes, any contracts for these medications must use competitive bidding processes if the potential supplier has previously settled multistate litigation related to their role in the opioid epidemic. The provisions would apply retroactively to agreements predating January 1, 2026, with non-compliant contracts becoming void and unenforceable.

This modification to state purchasing authority creates new requirements for how California agencies acquire vital overdose prevention medications. While the existing law exempts certain pharmaceutical contracts from standard competitive bidding procedures, this measure carves out opioid antagonists for additional scrutiny when involving manufacturers with settlement histories. The bill maintains the broader framework of the 2020 Act while introducing targeted oversight for this specific category of life-saving drugs.