Keeping harmful medications out of the wrong hands is a constant challenge. But getting safe medications into the right hands is plenty challenging, too, as Rowan Mahon well understands. Before Mahon, 31, began her doctorate in pharmacy at the University of Minnesota, she worked in labs where she was introduced to alarming waste. She graduated from the U in 2020 and is now volunteer managing director of RoundtableRx, a student-founded nonprofit that collects donated, unexpired medications that are then distributed free to patients who otherwise could not afford them. Mahon also works full-time as manager of clinical operations for ActiveRadar , a health care analytics company. She tells us more about her project below.
Q: You became aware of just how much waste exists in medical settings many years ago. Might you say a bit more about that?
A: Before beginning my doctorate in pharmacy at the U, I worked nights as a lab scientist in a blood bank. I was the one who had to dispose of medical waste and I began to think about waste in health care systems in general. I soon learned it was even worse in the pharmacy space, with so many medications thrown out even when they had not yet expired.
Q: How much worse?
A: As an example, there are 325 long-term care facilities in Minnesota, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities, that dispose of an estimated $16 million worth of safe, unexpired medication every year, according to the nonprofit association Care Providers of Minnesota. This was occurring at the same time the cost for medications was becoming more extreme. I was beginning to see how pricing was really impacting people and it was upsetting to me.
Q: So, thank you very much. You did something about it.
A: In 2017, along with fellow student Hannah Van Ochten and others, I helped to create and pass legislation to get the state's first real drug repository program off the ground. It didn't get much attention, but Minnesota lawmakers passed a plan in 2019 to set up a program to take unused medication destined for a flush or the landfill and instead distribute it to people struggling to afford their medicine. RoundtableRx was born.
Q: From where does RoundtableRx receive donated medications?