In the most recent salvo by states eager to show an effort to contain prescription drug costs, California's governor has signed into law a bill that will prohibit, with some limited exceptions, pharmaceutical manufacturers from offering patients co-pay assistance and other common discounts off their out-of-pocket insurance expenses for prescription drugs if a lower-cost equivalent is covered by the individual's insurance or the active ingredient for the drug is available at a lower cost without a prescription. For those drugs, the new law prohibits manufacturers from offering any discounts, repayments, product vouchers, or other reductions in an individual's out-of-pocket expenses. The new prohibition, however, does not apply to free product or to assistance provided to a patient by an "independent charity patient assistance program."