Collection or return of dispensed drugs and devices; conditions; fee; liability; professional disciplinary action.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 38-28,107
in effect38-28,107. Collection or return of dispensed drugs and devices; conditions; fee; liability; professional disciplinary action.
(1) To protect the public safety, dispensed drugs or devices:
(a) May be collected in a pharmacy for disposal;
(b) May be returned to a pharmacy in response to a recall by the manufacturer, packager, or distributor or if a device is defective or malfunctioning;
(c) Shall not be returned to saleable inventory nor made available for subsequent relabeling and redispensing, except as provided in subdivision (1)(d) of this section; or
(d) May be accepted from a long-term care facility by the pharmacy from which they were dispensed for credit or for relabeling and redispensing, except that:
(i) No controlled substance may be returned;
(ii) No prescription drug or medical device that has restricted distribution by the federal Food and Drug Administration may be returned;
(iii) The decision to accept the return of the dispensed drug or device shall rest solely with the pharmacist;
(iv) The dispensed drug or device shall have been in the control of the long-term care facility at all times;
(v) The dispensed drug or device shall be in the original and unopened labeled container with a tamper-evident seal intact, as dispensed by the pharmacist. Such container shall bear the expiration date or calculated expiration date and lot number; and
(vi) Tablets or capsules shall have been dispensed in a unit dose container which is impermeable to moisture and approved by the board.
(2) Pharmacies may charge a fee for collecting dispensed drugs or devices for disposal or from a long-term care facility for credit or for relabeling and redispensing.
(3) Any person or entity which exercises reasonable care in collecting dispensed drugs or devices for disposal or from a long-term care facility for credit or for relabeling and redispensing pursuant to this section shall be immune from civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action of any kind for any injury, death, or loss to person or property relating to such activities.
(4) A drug manufacturer which exercises reasonable care shall be immune from civil or criminal liability for any injury, death, or loss to persons or property relating to the relabeling and redispensing of drugs returned from a long-term care facility.
(5) Notwithstanding subsection (4) of this section, the relabeling and redispensing of drugs returned from a long-term care facility does not absolve a drug manufacturer of any criminal or civil liability that would have existed but for the relabeling and redispensing and such relabeling and redispensing does not increase the liability of such drug manufacturer that would have existed but for the relabeling and redispensing.
(6) The pharmacist may package drugs and devices at the request of a patient or patient's caregiver if the drugs and devices were originally dispensed from a different pharmacy.
Laws 1999, LB 333, § 1; Laws 2001, LB 398, § 74; Laws 2002, LB 1062, § 53; Laws 2007, LB247, § 51; Laws 2007, LB463, § 1199; Laws 2011, LB274, § 1; R.S.Supp.,2014, § 71-2421; Laws 2015, LB37, § 58; Laws 2020, LB1052, § 3.
Source: Nebraska Legislature (nebraskalegislature.gov)URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=38-28,107Fetched: 10/20/2026