Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / PBMs Under Fire, the World Pharmacist Challenge & CRUSH COST | TWIRx

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PBMs Under Fire, the World Pharmacist Challenge & CRUSH COST | TWIRx · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to This Week in Pharmacy. Twerks is the weekly
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: pulse of the pharmacy profession. And now, here's Pittsburgh native
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Bleeding Black and Gold, pharmacy's first podcaster and founder of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the Pharmacy Podcast Network, the RxPodfather.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Our host, Todd Urie.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Hey there, hey there. It's time to Twerks. October 30th.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: 2026. It's Halloween! Are you dressing up for Halloween? Do
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: you dress up for Halloween? What's going on at the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: pharmacies today? Hopefully it's a fun day. I am ready
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: for a weekend. My, um, My daughter has something going on.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know what it is, but we are ready
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to twerks. It's a Steeler football weekend as well. Go
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers. I do want to say thank you to
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: everyone who has been voting for the top host award.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys heard about this, but
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: top host award is a Ryan Seacrest initiative. find and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: to award a top host in podcasting. And yours truly,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Todd Ury, a candidate for that award. And if I win,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to bring massive attention back to pharmacy and
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: pharmacists and what they do for public health. Can't wait
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: to find out what happens. I don't know exactly when
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: the final decision is made, but I am a candidate. Hey,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: we are excited about Twerks today. We have two incredible guests.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: First up is Dr. Jesse McCullough, my friend and founder
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of the 31 Day Challenge. With that, let's bring in Jesse.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Hello, everyone. Jesse McCullough here with the 31 Day Challenge
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: for American Pharmacists Month. Here we are. We are now
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: at the end of October 2026, and this brings us
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: to our final exclusive challenge for listeners of This Week
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: in Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Before we get
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: to what that challenge is, I'd like to just take
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: a minute to thank everybody who has participated. If you
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: have participated in one or all of these challenges, I
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: cannot thank you so much. I trust that you have
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: found value in the various challenges that have been brought
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: forth this year. And even if you've gone back to
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: check out some of the challenges from last year, they
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: were intended to be able to meet you where you're
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: at and help you take one positive step forward, either
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: in your personal or professional life. So I trust that
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: you found value with that. I also need to thank
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: all the guests that have come by. I think when
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: it's come down, we have well over 50 different guests
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: have stopped by over the last two years to share
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: a challenge, something that often has made such an impact
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: in their careers, such an impact in their lives that
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: they wanted to share it. And I'm so happy and
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: excited to be able to bring some of those stories
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: to you and bring some of those challenges to you.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: And of course, I need to thank Todd and the
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: entire team at the Pharmacy Podcast Network for Whenever I
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: started this, Todd was one of the very first supporters
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: on board. And he said, hey, I would love to
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: feature an exclusive challenge on the network. And it's become
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: something that I know I look forward to. I hope
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: you look forward to it as well with that. But
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: we're going to wrap up 2026. But I want you
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: to know there's more to come. There's still a lot
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: more to come, actually. American Pharmacist Month may be done,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: but we are actually going to shift. to a World
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Pharmacist Challenge. And for this, I'm gonna tell you right now,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: I need some help. I need your help because with
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: this challenge, we are going to be featuring pharmacists and
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: people working alongside and supporting pharmacists from all over the
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: planet to come forth and share their stories and to
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: share their challenges, the things that made a difference in
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: their careers. So if you or somebody you know has
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: a wonderful story like that to share, I'm going to
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: ask you to please reach out to me. Reach out
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: to me. I'd love to hear your story and look
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: at how we might be able to turn that into
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: a challenge to be able to feature it as part
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: of the World Pharmacist Challenge. And I can tell you
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: right now, the first challenge is already recorded. It's going
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: to be coming out here in the very near future.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: So keep an eye out for that. Let's move in.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Let's move into our final challenge. You know, as I
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: did this, I have a lot of time to think about.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: And you also get exposed to all these different ideas
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: as I've talked to the various guests that have come on.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: And I wanted to share a story with you today.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: This is a particularly impactful story, at least to me.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: And so I'll share it with you. The story actually
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: has a title. It's known as the story of the
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: unknown world.
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: Monk.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: And the story goes like this. When I was a
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: young man, I wanted to change the world. I found
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: it was difficult to change the world. So I tried
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: the nation, I began to focus on my town. I
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: couldn't change the town. And as an older man, I
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: tried to change my family. Now, as an old man,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I realized the only thing I can change is myself.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: And suddenly I realized that if long ago I had
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: My family and I could have made an impact on
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: I could indeed have changed the world. You know, there's
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: so many pharmacists out there that are doing world changing
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  Speaker 4: work and you may be one of them. I actually,
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: if I was a betting man and I'm not, but
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: if I was a betting man, I would actually bet
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  Speaker 4: that you're involved in some world-changing work, and I want
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: to applaud you for doing that. But I want to
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: share with you the challenge that comes from this story,
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  Speaker 4: because a lot of times we step out and we
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: want to make a big impact. We want to change
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  Speaker 4: things on the global level. But really where change happens
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: is it happens at the individual level, and it happens
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  Speaker 4: inside out. That's the way the best change happens. And
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: my challenge to you as we wrap up this year's
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  Speaker 4: 31-day challenge is this. It's change yourself. It's change yourself.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: And how do you do that, right? And I would
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: suggest to you that each day in the 31-day challenge,
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: there has been a little challenge that has the potential
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: to help you change yourself. You can go back, you
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: can review those. You could actually go through, you could
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: do each of the challenges, you know, month after month
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: after month. And I trust you would still find value
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: in those because what they do is they are all
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: intended to point you in a positive direction, to move
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: you forward. And so my encouragement for those of you
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: that have participated in the challenge, or maybe you just,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: maybe you were a spectator this year. Maybe you thought, well,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: some of these challenges are cool, but maybe they're not
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: quite for me. I want to encourage you to change yourself.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: And the add-on to that is don't stop. Don't stop changing.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: Don't stop improving. Don't stop doing those little things that
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: you can do on a daily basis that can change yourself.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: And what that can do is that can change your
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: team and that can change your organization and that can
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: change your country and that may indeed change the world.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: So I thank you so much for the opportunity to
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: share these challenges with you again this year. Again, the
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: World Pharmacy Challenge or World Pharmacist Challenge is going to
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: be coming along here in the next several days. So
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: stay tuned for that. Reach out to me. I would
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: love to hear your stories. I would love to hear
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: the challenges that you have that have made an impact
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: in your career. I would love the opportunity to potentially
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: feature you as part of that World Pharmacist Challenge. And
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: I will remind you, as I do with each of
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: these challenges, that the challenge that I share here with
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: you today, it's not just for you. It's for all
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: of us. And I want to encourage you, no matter
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: how you're consuming this podcast today, I want to encourage
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: you to share it with two people. Because when we
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: each get better, we all get better. And with that, Todd,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: I'm going to send it back to you, my friend.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: And thank you again so much for the opportunity to share.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: with Pharmacy Podcast Network and bigger and better things are
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: coming for all of us. So look forward to continuing
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: the conversation in the coming month.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Jesse, Jesse McCullough, he is a champion he we need
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: more Jesse McCullough's in this world in the pharmacy profession
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: helping us to move forward and just be there for
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: each other and, and, and challenge each other, challenge each
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: other to be better and to do more. And I
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: am charged up about his challenge and in his efforts
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: and going international with this is going to be absolutely incredible. Hey,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: we got Twerks News. And now, here's the latest in pharmacy.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Coming up on Twerks News. All right, first up, PBMs
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: are forced to open their books. And guess what? They're
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: fighting back because they don't want to pay the fees.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: They don't want to pay the.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: The penalties. The Department of Labor finalized a regulation requiring
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: PBMs to disclose fees, rebates, spread pricing, revenue, and other
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: compensation to covered employer health plans, the PBM Industry Trade Association.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: The good old PCMA argues that the rule is redundant, costly,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: and potential harmful to smaller PBMs. It's considering ways to
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: challenge the regulation. And I want to say this to
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: PCMA and everybody out there listening. If PBMs are already transparent,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: why is revealing their revenue? Why is that such a problem?
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: Why?
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Why, why, why? I want to know why. So good
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: news coming out of this week in pharmacy and just
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: to be able to dig in. I want you to
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: read PCMA's response. I'll put it in the show notes
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: of today's podcast. Next up, PBM has retaliated against independent pharmacies.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: We knew this was happening. The House Oversight Chairman James
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Comer has launched an investigation into into whether CVS Health, Caremark,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Express Scripts, and OptumRx used burdensome audits against pharmacies that
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: publicly supported PBM reform legislation. One particularly striking allegation in
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: an audit involving, listen to this, this is crazy, an
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: audit involving a 99 cent medical claim, a PBM claim
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: reportedly consumed hundreds of hours of a pharmacy staff's time
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: These are the allegations under investigation, not established findings of retaliation.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: It's obvious what this is, what's happening. I'm going to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: put in the show notes that you're going to read
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: the congressional announcement in the letter of this investigation. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I want to know, are pharmacy audits legitimate program integrity
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: tools for Or are they being weaponized to silence independent pharmacies?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: We know this is happening. I've heard from pharmacy owners
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: that this is in fact happening. And it's absolutely crazy.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: And I want to see it stop. Not sure what
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: we can do to stop it other than just to
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: keep it in the news. And that's why it's on
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: this week in pharmacy. All right. Last on the news,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: HHS opens the door to six controversial peptides. They published
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: an interim enforcement discretion policy covering six peptides, which include BPC-157, Eptalon, KPV, MOTS-C,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: as in cookie, as in C is for cookie. It's
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: good enough for me. And C-Max and TB-500. This could
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: expand access through qualifying 503A compounders under specified safeguards, but
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: the substance are not FDA approved and major questions about
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: human safety and effectiveness remain. The FDA scientists have raised objections.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: So I want to know, is this a breakthrough for
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: personalized medicine or are we exposing patients to experimental substances?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: before the science catches up. In the show notes, I'm
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: going to have a link to HHS Federal Register Notice.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: And a shout out to our compounding pharmacies. What do
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you guys think? You're the ones that I want to
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: hear from. And you're the ones that I trust. And
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: also the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounders and Compounding, Scott's team
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: over there. I'd love to hear on this issue. I'm
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: going to look up some information. I'm sure they have
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: something out there always. putting great information out on the
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: latest in compounding and pharmacy compounding. Shout out to Curify Labs,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: by the way. Curify Labs is doing some amazing things
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: in 3D printing, in compound creation. If you haven't heard
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: about them, go to curifylabs.com. Once again, curifylabs.com. We're going
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: to be doing a three-part series with Curify Labs. You're
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: not going to want to miss it and just understand
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: the revenue opportunities in non-sterile compounding is huge, actually in
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: all compounding, but more specifically non-sterile. And we want to
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: see more of that, man. Hey, this outfit, if you're
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: listening on the RSS feed, you're missing out on a treat.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: If you're watching me on YouTube or LinkedIn, you get
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: to see my Halloween costume. It's absolutely nuts. It's crazy.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I actually bought this for my father's 80th birthday. I
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: can't wait to surprise him. I'm going down to Florida,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: meeting up with my sisters and brother and family to
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: celebrate my father's 80th. And I'm going to show up
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: in this ridiculous costume. And I even put a little
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Steelers on it. number 92, Harrison the Great. If you
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: are a football fan, I'd love to hear from you
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and how your team's doing this week in pharmacy. Hey,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: when we come back from the break, we are going
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: to hear from Pharmacy 50's most influential person in pharmacy
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: for the 2025 season. And with that, I also want
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: to say that Voting for the Pharmacy 50 2026 season
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: is coming up. Voting starts on November 4th. Do not forget,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: go to pharmacy50. us. Once again, that's pharmacy50. us to put in
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: your vote and vote for somebody that you think a
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: lot of and that maybe doesn't get enough recognition. Pharmacy
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: 50 has brought so much attention to people in the
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: pharmacy industry who have not received a lot of attention
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: in their work and their work is monumental. It's changing lives.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: It's changing healthcare. And we're excited to continue to push
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: advocacy for pharmacists, our technicians, and people who are behind
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: the scenes with the Pharmacy 50. Yeah, I tell you what,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Grant Harding is coming up. Pharmacy 50 is most influential.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: You don't want to miss this interview with And we
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: are so excited about the future pharmacy man and what's happening.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: We will be right back.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: This episode is sponsored by Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, widely known
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: as IPC. Established in 1983, IPC is the nation's largest
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: group purchasing organization owned by Independent Pharmacy. With a mission
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: of maximizing the success of community pharmacists, IPC works to
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: provide members with access to effective programs and services designed
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: to enhance profitability for independent pharmacy. Read more about our
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: mission by checking out our website at IPCRX.com. That's IPCRX.com.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to This Week in Pharmacy in the studio.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I always say in the studio, but literally in the studio.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: One of our Pharmacy 50 most influential, or I should say,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: take that back, the most influential for 2025, just this
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: past year, right? Grant Harding.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: Yes, I was the winner for the great award. I'm
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: very happy about that. Yeah, you did an amazing job
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: promoting it. And I want to say we're getting ready
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: for the 2026 awards and the voting will start the first,
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: I think the first week in November. And I just
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: want to say to everybody listening, nominating somebody that you
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: think a lot of, nominating somebody that you know behind
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: the scenes doesn't get enough recognition for what they're doing
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: for public advocacy, for a specific vein of pharmacy care.
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: It's so important because I know when I get talked
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: about positively on LinkedIn or Instagram or something, it makes
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: such a difference. It lightens my heart and then bringing
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: recognition to a technician, to a pharmacist, to something.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: But what was it like throughout? mean, campaigning for yourself
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: for this award is kind of like, it's a weird
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: feeling because you don't necessarily want to do it. But
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: the advocacy that you bring to the profession when you
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: win that award, there's something to that too, Grant.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it does feel a.
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: Bit weird, you know, saying vote for me like I'm
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: not a politician, like crying out loud. But I knew
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: what kind of fan base I had and what kind
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: of viewers I had. I knew they were very supportive
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: and they wanted to be involved. They wanted to have
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: that feeling of, we got this award. It wasn't necessarily,
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: let's throw Grant up there. But they felt a sense
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: of camaraderie, I guess you could say with that. So
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: when I kind of looked at it from that perspective,
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: it was kind of like, you know, me and my
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: friends completing a goal together is really what it felt like.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: And I was just, I.
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: Mean, I was incredibly happy with the way they responded. Like,
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: my goodness. I think we like broke a record or
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: something like that.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: You had over 2000 votes. It was amazing.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I think the next to you was in the two hundreds.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: So it was, it was massive and it was because
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: of your fan base and that that's the whole point of,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: influence and what you do, like that famous Spider-Man line
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: that Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker, with great power
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: comes great responsibility. And I say that back to my winners.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: We've had 200 alumni and I've met up with so
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: many of them since. And I've said, what did you
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: do with that exposure to move the profession forward or
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: to help somebody or to get more attention around a
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: political situation that's holding back pharmacy care and there are
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: so many of our alumni winners nadia ahmad and uh
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: jordan smith and so many people that are using their
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: status to do other things and i'm like yeah that's
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: the whole.
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: Point of it yeah that's that it literally is the
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: whole point of it you know he used that connection
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: he used that uh uh I guess, notoriety for lack
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: of a better term, you know, to hopefully create some
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: good in this world and in the profession. Because now
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: I can put that on my name. I can put
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: that in my bio and it adds to the validity.
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: It adds to the sincerity. And whenever people see that,
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: they're like, okay, well, I can, I can trust this
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: guy whenever he says this is an issue and we
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: should be looking out for it and we should try
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: to avoid it or, here are ways that maybe we
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: can avoid this issue or something along those lines, you know,
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: to be a little bit vague there, but yeah, it definitely,
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: it just helps the general feel of what we're trying
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: to do. Whenever you have, you know, I can say
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: I was, I was number one and that carries a
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: lot of weight to these folks who view me.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Yep. And so talk to our listeners real quick, just
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: in case they don't remember or they don't, they don't know.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: If you're not looking and watching Grant on TikTok, tell
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: us about kind of what you're doing with your platform.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: Man, it's been a really fun ride, honestly. So I
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: guess the way this started was, I guess we can
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: go back to whenever I was, you know, working as
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: a traditional, you know, retail pharmacist at Rite Aid, but
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: now defunct Rite Aid. And I just hated how nobody
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: would listen to me whenever I would say, don't buy this.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: Buy this instead. It's a third of the cost. But
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: everybody gets shiny package syndrome. And they think the price
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: is somehow tied to the efficacy.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Or the value that a product provides.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: But I'm guilty of that.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we all are. I am too.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: It's so psychological. I'm looking for a chainsaw right now.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm comparing Husker Vana, which I've already owned, Still,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: and Echo. And I'm gravitating towards the Still because of
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: ratings and rankings. But there was a price difference that
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: made me think, well, maybe this is, you know, it's
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: priced a little bit more. Maybe it's worth a little
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: bit more.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Wait, which one was priced more?
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: The Still. Well, I come from a still family, so
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: I think you probably might be right on that one.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's like, and there's one called the farm,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: the farm cutter. And then there's other ones like the
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: wood cutter. And I know I'm butchering those names, but
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: it's one's farm and one's wood. And the farm one
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: is like, if you heat your house with wood, you know,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: get the farm cutter. Whereas if you're just like, putzing
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: around in your yard and you want quality, get the,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: get the wood cutter. So I'm probably getting it up
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: with the wood cutter. I'll let you know how it
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: turns out.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: I would love to come down and do a review
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: of it someday. Yeah.
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: So people do that and nobody would listen to me.
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: So I just stopped saying anything. And then I started
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: posting on social media. I read the entire Bible and
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: I read another book that kind of basically said people
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: love learning. And I was like, okay, well, I'm going
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: to teach people something that I'm very passionate about because
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: I'm tired of watching 60-year-old ladies spend money that they
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: don't have on junk medications.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: And it was a real hit.
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: And then after that, I started looking into these sketchy
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: gas station pills. I have a relationship with a lab
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: out in California that tests them for me. And it's
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: really shocking stuff what we get back from some of
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: these things that no mortal human should ever be buying.
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: And that's pretty much what we do today. And then
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: the underlying theme is how to help people save money
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: on medication.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: But you've taken some of these crazy-ass gas station pills.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: I used to.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Did you make you stop and be like, this is dangerous?
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: Yeah, two or three lab results coming back made me
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: stop that one. I initially did that because I thought, okay,
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: I guess to just catch everyone up to speed. There's
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: this sketchy gas station pills, like the rhino pill, et cetera.
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: And on the back, it says, you know, Tonga, Ali, uh, uh, Maka,
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: like all these, like just herbal supplements that don't really
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: do anything. And people are like, don't take that. It's like, it'll, it'll,
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: you'll die. And I was like, you're dumb. Like these
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: don't do anything. And I would take it initially to
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: prove to people how, uh, unfounded their concern was uh
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: and then i sent a couple to a lab and
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: lo and behold they did come back with uh sildenafil
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: is the one i mostly find so i stopped taking
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: them after that um because they the people and their
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: concern was very much valid and correct and i was
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: the dumb one actually for believing what was written on
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: the package actually was in the pills So I learned
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: the hard way there that they were right and I
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: was wrong.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Have you ever thought of teaming up with like an
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: FDA hotline?
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: I have been praying for someone from the FDA or
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: the DEA to reach out to me. I've reached out
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: to them. No response, nothing. I think someday they will. Yeah.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: I would like to have a little bit more of
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: an intimate relationship with these folks. But so far, nothing. Yeah.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: And for the safety of the public, you would think
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: they'd pay attention a little bit more to a pharmacist
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: that that's the whole existence of you as a PharmD
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: is to ensure the public safety of, of drug, drug
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: interactions or drug allergies or something. And you're out there
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: gas station sleuthing and it, It makes sense to have
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: a pharmacist do that.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I think someday somebody will eventually say something.
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: I don't know. Right now they just put out their
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: little warnings, announcements, and then nothing happens after that. That's
• 28:32
  Speaker 6: typically what happens.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: There's a crackdown happening now on Kratom.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: I've heard about the Kratom crackdown.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I know of it.
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: I don't have a whole lot of opinion on that,
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: on Kratom or anything involving it.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: And then the vapes in the state of Pennsylvania evaporated
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: overnight where you're not allowed to sell either that, I'm
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: misquoting because I don't have it pulled up in front
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: of me. I should, but the Pennsylvania state, I don't
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: know what department that would be. Maybe the, is there
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: a separate FDAs? Not really, I don't know. Whatever department, like,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: decides what is going to be sold, I think they
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: sent either a 30-day notice or some notice to every
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: organization that has publicly said that they sell electronic vapes,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: that it's going to be coming to an end or
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: isn't an end or something. Like nicotine? No, everything, I think.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Let me see. ATF? ATF, maybe. Maybe that was it. Pennsylvania.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: I didn't know that. More of a sketchy gas station
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: pill kind of guy myself.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: All right, so let's see. Pennsylvania enforces strict regulations on
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: electronic nicotine delivery systems, including major cell registry laws that
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: went into effect on October 19th of 2026. It says
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: the Act 57 Vape Registry Law. And this means that
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General maintains an official directory
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: of approved e-cigarettes and vaping products. So you have to
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: have an approved brand and you have to allow manufacturers.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: The registry currently features products from six approved manufacturers. So
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: the approved are Juul, Reynolds, Vapor Company, Enjoy blue nine
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: custom technologies and the Swartz, the Swartz e-liquid. Do you
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: remember the Swartz from the space ball movie long time ago?
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: I never saw that actually.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: It was stupid. And okay. Vape laws, age limits. It's
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: illegal to sell. We knew that anyone under 21. So
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: it's not only 18, it's 21.
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: And then.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: Oh, or under 18, if they're active duty, military veterans.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish they'd say that about a lot of
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: things because you're 18 and serving. You're putting your life
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: on the line. You can't even drink a beer. And
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: then sales restrictions. Self-service displays are restricted to specialty tobacco stores.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: All right, so I'm still confused what they've actually done here,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: but nonetheless.
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: Looks like they just need some sort of approval process
• 31:18
  Speaker 6: to sell.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: Maybe that's how I interpreted all that.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean, sketchy gas station pills should be
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: scrutinized a little bit.
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: More yeah they really should it's kind of weird actually
• 31:31
  Speaker 6: when you think about it yeah um but you're you're
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: continuing with this um excited that you that you got
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: to stop by and be on twerks because we've been
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: waiting for this interview since you won the awards uh
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: when you were here goodness gracious back in january.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah it's been tough get down here how far away
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: is the drive from where you're at.
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: Only about an hour You know, scheduling difficulties is where
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: we run into an issue.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, very coincidental that I just so happen to live, like, very,
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: very close, relatively speaking, to this particular studio.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had several award winners. The farthest traveled was
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Fiona Sertoretto, and she won two years ago. She wasn't
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: number one. I think she was in the top maybe 10.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: And she came in from Italy.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: She flew in?
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: She flew in from Italy. Now, when she was here,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: she did more business, right?
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: Oh, she did?
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: But she initially was coming to accept her award, which.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Is pretty cool. That is so cool.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: She has the record for travel to personally accept her award.
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: Oh, and BTWs, folks who maybe are unfamiliar with my channel,
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: I also go to other countries and look at their meds.
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: That is so fun. And I have been to Italy
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: and I've been to the Vatican as well. They have
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: a pharmacy in the Vatican. And I just look at
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: all the, you know, I buy drugs in other countries
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: that require a prescription here and I buy them over
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: there without a prescription and just look at them and
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: test them out at times, which is the coolest hobby
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: I think anyone could ever have.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: When you nerd out as a pharmacist, that's the coolest
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: job of a hobby a pharmacist could have.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Every time I go somewhere, people are like, oh,
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: did you go to the beach or something like that? No,
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: way cooler. Way cooler. Went to a pharmacy.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: That would be me, though. My family, my daughter, my wife, kids,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: they cannot stand when I'll go to a Target or
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: a Walmart or something. And I'm like, hey, I'll be
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: right back. And they know exactly where I'm going.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: Better tools.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: I'm going.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Going back to the pharmacy to hand out a pen
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: or to say hello. And you know what, what, which
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: one of the biggest compliments, my hometown Walmart, Brownsville Walmart
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. I went there and I went back
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: just to see who was working. Cause I know a
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: couple of them. And as I walked up to the desk,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't recognize anybody. And all of a sudden one
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: of the technicians is like, Hey, you're Todd. And I'm like, yes,
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: you know me. I was like, I'm known by Walmart
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: pharmacist technicians.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: Yay.
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: Well, we appreciate you. You have to promise to not
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: to wait to almost a year to come back. Maybe
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: even we'll zoom in if you, if you can't make
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: the one hour drive.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: That sounds amazing. All right.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Hey, to learn more about grant, what he's got going on,
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: take a look at crush cost.com and stay tuned. We're
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: going to have a special interview with grant. We're going
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: to dig down into crush costs and what exactly that
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: is here on Twerks, This Week in Pharmacy. See ya. Bye.