Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Compounding Advocacy in Heels: 2026 State Legislation Edition | Essential: The Pharmacy Compounding Podcast
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
- 0:09Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Welcome to essential news and analysis from the Alliance for
- 0:28Speaker 2: Pharmacy Compounding. We are the voice for well Pharmacy Compounding.
- 0:33Speaker 2: I'm your host, Andrew Canter. We're going to give you
- 0:35Speaker 2: a bit of compounding news before we get to the
- 0:37Speaker 2: main event. We talk a lot about federal laws and
- 0:40Speaker 2: FDA regulations, but today we're going to take a deep
- 0:43Speaker 2: dive into state level legislation that's been introduced this year,
- 0:47Speaker 2: specifically the bills that are aimed at, obviously pharmacy compounding
- 0:51Speaker 2: and where they might lead. But first the news. All right,
- 0:58Speaker 2: this is good stuff. Congressman Michael Rouley of Ohio has
- 1:02Speaker 2: introduced the Protecting Equal Access to Thyroid Act, that's PETE
- 1:08Speaker 2: or pet TO. It would rain in the FDA's reclassification
- 1:12Speaker 2: of desiccated thyroid extract as a biologic. We are totally
- 1:16Speaker 2: behind that, because well, DT isn't a biologic. The only
- 1:21Speaker 2: thing that's biological is thyrol globulin and that's clinically inactive.
- 1:25Speaker 2: There's no logical reason for the FDA's reclassification, and it
- 1:29Speaker 2: cuts off access to compounded thyroid meds for millions of
- 1:33Speaker 2: patients who rely on it. It's unfortunate that it might
- 1:36Speaker 2: take an Act of Congress to prevent this, but there
- 1:39Speaker 2: you go. We'll keep you updated as it moves along. Well,
- 1:45Speaker 2: it looked like big news, and apparently a bunch of
- 1:47Speaker 2: news outlets thought it was, but a recent FDA announcement
- 1:51Speaker 2: is actually a whole lot of nothing. The FDA said
- 1:54Speaker 2: it's planning to exclude semaglutide, to zeppetide, and lyriglutide from
- 1:59Speaker 2: the five three B bulks List because the agency says
- 2:03Speaker 2: that outside of a shortage, there's really no need for
- 2:06Speaker 2: outsourcing facilities to compound them. And this changes nothing. Current
- 2:12Speaker 2: REGs already prohibit five oh three b's from compounding those
- 2:15Speaker 2: GLP ones unless there's a shortage. Now, if the agency
- 2:20Speaker 2: said it was planning to add those drugs to the
- 2:22Speaker 2: bulks list, well that would be a story. But nope,
- 2:25Speaker 2: all it said was no, we'll stick with the status
- 2:28Speaker 2: quo and keep those drugs off the bulks list. Still,
- 2:32Speaker 2: the we're not changing anything announcement confused at least some
- 2:36Speaker 2: news agencies, and they acted like it was a big deal,
- 2:39Speaker 2: but once again, the FDA just said it wasn't changing
- 2:42Speaker 2: anything about when five oh three b outsourcing facilities can
- 2:46Speaker 2: compound GLP ones.
- 2:48Speaker 3: So really nothing to see here. Move along, citizen, move along.
- 2:53Speaker 2: The good folks that FDA Law blog have posted a
- 2:56Speaker 2: second part to their primer on the pepti compounding landscape.
- 3:01Speaker 2: This time they talk about the long and winding road
- 3:04Speaker 2: to regulated peptide compounding. There's definitely movement, but it's a
- 3:09Speaker 2: process that could take a year or more, even if
- 3:11Speaker 2: the road is pothole free. The next step is a
- 3:15Speaker 2: meeting of the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, and even if
- 3:19Speaker 2: that committee recommends allowing compounding with peptides, first the FDA
- 3:24Speaker 2: has to agree, and then there's still the whole rulemaking
- 3:27Speaker 2: process to go through. Then there are supply chain issues,
- 3:30Speaker 2: advertising restrictions, and a lot more eyes to dot and
- 3:33Speaker 2: teas to cross. There's a link to the blog post
- 3:37Speaker 2: in the show notes, and it's well worth the read,
- 3:39Speaker 2: if only to get a clearer picture of what's really
- 3:41Speaker 2: happening with peptides and compounding. Side note, stakeholders have until
- 3:46Speaker 2: July ninth to submit written comments to the docket, So
- 3:49Speaker 2: keep that in mind if you want to weigh in.
- 3:51Speaker 2: Oh and there's always the possibility that HHS Secretary RFK
- 3:56Speaker 2: Junior will unilaterally move to place certain peptides the five
- 4:00Speaker 2: O three A bulks list and bypass the entire process.
- 4:04Speaker 2: All right, I know what you're thinking. Yes, that would
- 4:06Speaker 2: still require notice and comment rule making, but it could
- 4:10Speaker 2: be the start of an era of enforcement discretion pending
- 4:13Speaker 2: that rulemaking. Maybe, I guess we'll see, And yes, ABC members,
- 4:18Speaker 2: we will for sure keep you in the loop. One
- 4:23Speaker 2: of the issues that comes up in pharmacy compounding is
- 4:25Speaker 2: that there are a lot of let's call them questionable
- 4:28Speaker 2: websites out there that claim to be selling compounded medications. Actually,
- 4:33Speaker 2: we'll call them what they really are. They are bogus sites, fake,
- 4:37Speaker 2: possibly dangerous, and they confuse people than to be fair,
- 4:40Speaker 2: even legislators who lump them in with legitimate compounding pharmacies.
- 4:45Speaker 2: But if you're a patient, how do you tell what's
- 4:47Speaker 2: legit pharmacy and what's a fake pop up store? And
- 4:50Speaker 2: that is where APC comes in. We've got a free
- 4:53Speaker 2: tool that will help you check to see if a
- 4:55Speaker 2: pharmacy you're thinking of using is actually licensed.
- 4:58Speaker 3: We call it is it legit? Catch you right?
- 5:02Speaker 2: You choose a state, enter the pharmacy name, and as
- 5:05Speaker 2: long as you spelled it right, you'll find out whether
- 5:07Speaker 2: it's legit or not. Easyps that site. It's a four
- 5:13Speaker 2: PC dot org slash. Is it legit? That's one word.
- 5:18Speaker 2: There's also a link in the show notes to make
- 5:20Speaker 2: it easy. And with that, it's time for our deep dive.
- 5:27Speaker 2: This year, a dozen odd states have introduced legislation that
- 5:30Speaker 2: affects compounding pharmacies, and in some cases those bills have
- 5:33Speaker 2: the fingerprints of Big Pharma all over them. So to
- 5:37Speaker 2: talk about what's going on in which states and how
- 5:40Speaker 2: some of it might spread around the country, we've got
- 5:42Speaker 2: with us today the leading Ladies of Pharmacy compounding Advocacy
- 5:47Speaker 2: to Neil Davis, Katie Johnston, Lauren Paul, and Sarah Witt.
- 5:52Speaker 2: To Neil is, of course, APC's Chief Advocacy Officer. Katie
- 5:56Speaker 2: Johnson is at Revelation Pharma, where she oversees regularly and
- 6:00Speaker 2: legislation all across fifty states and at the federal level.
- 6:04Speaker 2: Lauren Paul is a licensed pharmacist in multiple states, and
- 6:08Speaker 2: she's currently the director of State Government Affairs for Hymns
- 6:11Speaker 2: and Hers, and Sarah Witt is the advocacy lead for
- 6:14Speaker 2: Strive Compounding Pharmacy, where she manages its federal and state
- 6:19Speaker 2: advocacy efforts. They've all been heavily involved in tracking and
- 6:23Speaker 2: responding to the kind of state level legislation that impacts
- 6:26Speaker 2: compounding pharmacies, and you know, doing their part to educate
- 6:29Speaker 2: people and even organize grass roofs engagement efforts. Now that
- 6:35Speaker 2: you know are experts, it's time to talk about that
- 6:37Speaker 2: state level legislation, what's happened, what's pending, and where it's
- 6:41Speaker 2: all going to Neil take it away.
- 6:44Speaker 4: Thanks Andrew.
- 6:45Speaker 5: I'm really pleased today to welcome Sarah and Katie and
- 6:48Speaker 5: Lauren to our podcast. We are the Ladies of Advocacy,
- 6:52Speaker 5: and I was going to start out by having each
- 6:55Speaker 5: one of them give a little bit of background into
- 6:57Speaker 5: how they got into advocacy work. Most of us here
- 7:00Speaker 5: are pharmacist by trade, and advocacy doesn't really lend itself
- 7:03Speaker 5: to our scientific background. So what was the path that
- 7:07Speaker 5: led you into the advocacy role that you hold now
- 7:10Speaker 5: at your job?
- 7:11Speaker 4: And I'm going to start with Lauren Hi.
- 7:13Speaker 6: Thanks to Neil.
- 7:14Speaker 7: Great to be here.
- 7:16Speaker 6: I started as a community pharmacist in one of our
- 7:20Speaker 6: larger retail pharmacies and sort of worked my way throughout
- 7:24Speaker 6: the organization into different roles and was plucked into the
- 7:28Speaker 6: advocacy role over a decade ago. Really enjoy the advocacy side,
- 7:34Speaker 6: being able to shape the practice of pharmacy and moving
- 7:38Speaker 6: pharmacy practice forward within the profession.
- 7:42Speaker 8: Awesome.
- 7:42Speaker 4: How about Sarah?
- 7:44Speaker 9: Yeah, thank you Toanil so really got my advocacy first
- 7:50Speaker 9: introduced to me. And during my APPY rotation my fourth
- 7:53Speaker 9: year pharmacy school, I had a pharmacy Advocacy and leadership
- 7:59Speaker 9: rotation and I was on rotation with a Utah State
- 8:03Speaker 9: senator here who's also a pharmacist. He kind of handed
- 8:06Speaker 9: me a bill the first day and told me to
- 8:08Speaker 9: run with it. And that was the beginning. And once
- 8:11Speaker 9: I joined Strive, I really had the opportunity to attend
- 8:14Speaker 9: CCH back in twenty twenty four and really realized the
- 8:19Speaker 9: need for it within Strive, and so ever since then,
- 8:23Speaker 9: I've kind of been running with it, learning on the
- 8:25Speaker 9: fly and loving every minute of it.
- 8:28Speaker 5: For those of you who don't know, Sarah's referring to
- 8:30Speaker 5: Compounders on Capitol Hill, which is APC's yearly fly into Washington,
- 8:34Speaker 5: d C, where pharmacy professionals in the compounding space fly
- 8:38Speaker 5: over all into Washington, DC and visit with their members
- 8:41Speaker 5: of Congress, educating them on issues of compounding. I'll moved
- 8:45Speaker 5: to our non pharmacist, but no less amazing Katie Johnston's
- 8:50Speaker 5: to Neil.
- 8:50Speaker 7: Hello, everyone.
- 8:51Speaker 10: Yes, I am not a pharmacist, but I have a
- 8:54Speaker 10: background that's actually focused in government affairs and policy. Coming
- 8:58Speaker 10: out of high school and going to college, I always
- 9:00Speaker 10: had a super strong interest in American government and policy,
- 9:03Speaker 10: but also healthcare.
- 9:04Speaker 7: At the same time. Biology was always my favorite subject,
- 9:06Speaker 7: but kind of.
- 9:08Speaker 10: Always assumed I did not have the skills and ability
- 9:11Speaker 10: to be a doctor or a pharmacist or anything that's
- 9:13Speaker 10: actually on the ground in the field. So I kind
- 9:15Speaker 10: of thought, you know, policy and healthcare, I can marry
- 9:19Speaker 10: the two together going down this route. So my undergraduate
- 9:21Speaker 10: degrees in political science and then I got my masters
- 9:25Speaker 10: in public administration with a specialty in health care policy.
- 9:29Speaker 10: And since then my career has been you know, pretty
- 9:31Speaker 10: much all governor affairs roles.
- 9:32Speaker 7: I've I've done a position with a pharmaceutical company.
- 9:35Speaker 10: I've worked with NIH for a little bit, so I've
- 9:37Speaker 10: gotten some experience on the local, state, and federal level.
- 9:40Speaker 10: I joined Revelation about two and a half years ago,
- 9:43Speaker 10: and learning the compounding space has definitely been a challenge,
- 9:47Speaker 10: but it's been amazing. It's a great, great industry to
- 9:50Speaker 10: be in, and despite the challenges we're facing, it's been.
- 9:53Speaker 7: A wonderful opportunity. So I'm happy to be here.
- 9:55Speaker 8: Well, I appreciate you being here so much.
- 9:58Speaker 5: We're going to talk about state level legislation to because
- 10:00Speaker 5: I know most of our advocacy work has either been
- 10:04Speaker 5: in the federal space with FDA USP or it's been
- 10:08Speaker 5: in the state space with the state boards of pharmacy.
- 10:10Speaker 5: But there's not very often that we, as advocacy ladies
- 10:14Speaker 5: in the compounding space get.
- 10:15Speaker 4: Involved with state level legislation.
- 10:18Speaker 5: So I'm going to start out this wave of legislation
- 10:21Speaker 5: that's been introduced. It really started the first bills were
- 10:25Speaker 5: introduced in December, if I remember in Florida, and we've
- 10:28Speaker 5: had quite a few cents then, so let's let's start
- 10:31Speaker 5: out by talking about kind of the bills that were
- 10:33Speaker 5: introduced in Florida and kind of how it started the
- 10:36Speaker 5: ball rolling to have legislation come along in about a
- 10:38Speaker 5: dozen other states.
- 10:40Speaker 4: So I'll start with Katie.
- 10:41Speaker 5: Katie, will you talk a little bit about the two
- 10:43Speaker 5: bills that were introduced in Florida in December and kind
- 10:47Speaker 5: of what those bills look like and how, you know,
- 10:50Speaker 5: kind of set the stage for the rest of the country.
- 10:52Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 10:53Speaker 10: Absolutely, I think you know, going into the end of
- 10:56Speaker 10: the year, we are all caught off guard by this sudden.
- 10:59Speaker 7: Wave of leeds.
- 11:01Speaker 4: Florida.
- 11:02Speaker 10: I think we felt good about going into it because
- 11:04Speaker 10: of existing relationships we had there, but then we started
- 11:07Speaker 10: getting our hands on some of the language that was
- 11:09Speaker 10: included in these bills, and that's where the concern really
- 11:11Speaker 10: came to be. And I know, at first there was
- 11:14Speaker 10: legislation that would touch any compounding, not even just GLP one.
- 11:19Speaker 7: Specifically, and that was super alarming.
- 11:21Speaker 10: And you know, fortunately as we went through the past
- 11:23Speaker 10: couple of months, it definitely refined down to being more
- 11:25Speaker 10: focused on GLP ones. But you know, again, I think
- 11:30Speaker 10: the biggest thing going into the end of year, though,
- 11:32Speaker 10: was we were all just so unprepared for what was coming.
- 11:35Speaker 10: I don't think we realized the scale of it. And
- 11:37Speaker 10: on top of that, you know, I think APC, the
- 11:40Speaker 10: industry as a whole, hasn't faced an effort like an
- 11:42Speaker 10: issue like this before, where it was you know, multiple
- 11:45Speaker 10: states at the same time, you're working with a limited timeframe.
- 11:48Speaker 10: You have some states who are in session for only
- 11:50Speaker 10: two months and then some who go all year long,
- 11:53Speaker 10: along with you know, limited resources. We haven't had to
- 11:55Speaker 10: organize something like this before, so it was kind of
- 11:58Speaker 10: a mad dash to how we're going to go about this,
- 12:00Speaker 10: the approach we're going to take. But I think all
- 12:02Speaker 10: things considered, we did pretty pretty dark good. But yeah,
- 12:06Speaker 10: I think that was probably the most concerning part. It
- 12:08Speaker 10: was just how caught off guard we were.
- 12:11Speaker 8: Yeah, we were absolutely caught off guard. And especially in Florida.
- 12:15Speaker 5: We had a bill introduced kind of simultaneously in the
- 12:18Speaker 5: Florida House and in the Florida Senate. Like you said,
- 12:20Speaker 5: one of those bills would have restricted all of compounding,
- 12:23Speaker 5: and one of them was a little bit more limited
- 12:25Speaker 5: in that it applied only to weight loss drugs without
- 12:29Speaker 5: defining what weight loss drugs were. So we were trying
- 12:33Speaker 5: to analyze this new legislation and figure out what it meant,
- 12:36Speaker 5: would it apply to met foreman, would it apply to
- 12:38Speaker 5: loto smell truck zone. I mean, there's so many things
- 12:41Speaker 5: that could be used off label for weight loss. So
- 12:45Speaker 5: we talked about bills that were introduced in Florida and
- 12:48Speaker 5: how that kind of.
- 12:49Speaker 8: Threw us off.
- 12:50Speaker 4: But let's talk now.
- 12:51Speaker 5: About how they set the stage and they shared DNA
- 12:54Speaker 5: with the legislation that was going to end up being
- 12:57Speaker 5: filed in about a dozen states around the country. Can
- 13:00Speaker 5: you kind of share some common themes in the legislation
- 13:02Speaker 5: that ended up getting filed.
- 13:05Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 13:06Speaker 4: Sure.
- 13:07Speaker 6: I think what we saw across the country was requirements
- 13:11Speaker 6: that were very similar in all the bills. Some of
- 13:13Speaker 6: them effectively would limit all the compounding for GLP ones.
- 13:19Speaker 7: We did see a few that.
- 13:20Speaker 6: Started off as prohibition of all compounding, and then through
- 13:25Speaker 6: very early committee meetings, they were moved more into a
- 13:28Speaker 6: prohibition on GLP one compounding. Some of the requirements we
- 13:33Speaker 6: saw or that compounding pharmacies needed to buy API directly
- 13:37Speaker 6: from the drug makers themselves. This was language that you
- 13:44Speaker 6: really had to understand because it wasn't an outright saying
- 13:48Speaker 6: that you had to buy from the drug makers. It
- 13:50Speaker 6: was the way that it was worded and it took
- 13:53Speaker 6: a couple readings, I think to identify that. I think
- 13:57Speaker 6: what we also saw is API testing requirements and then
- 14:02Speaker 6: also more testing of finished compounded preparations that's above and
- 14:07Speaker 6: beyond what FDA and USP standards and would effectively put
- 14:11Speaker 6: the compounds out of reach for patients. We also saw
- 14:15Speaker 6: limits on sourcing from FDA registered suppliers or manufacturers. They
- 14:20Speaker 6: required that the API be sourced from FDA registered suppliers
- 14:27Speaker 6: that had been inspected within the last two years receiving
- 14:32Speaker 6: either a no action indicated or voluntary action indicated, which
- 14:36Speaker 6: is a requirement not placed on any other FDA registered
- 14:39Speaker 6: manufacturers and is not how the FDA inspection process works,
- 14:43Speaker 6: as it's a risk based inspection.
- 14:46Speaker 3: I think.
- 14:46Speaker 6: Finally, also we saw some certificate of analysis requirements which
- 14:50Speaker 6: were above and beyond what is already required by the FDA.
- 14:56Speaker 5: Yeah, a lot of these bills had language that was
- 14:59Speaker 5: surprisingly similar.
- 15:00Speaker 4: So it definitely.
- 15:02Speaker 5: Appeared that there was someone behind all of these bills,
- 15:06Speaker 5: and I think that we know who that is, and
- 15:09Speaker 5: you know, we're not going to name names or anything,
- 15:11Speaker 5: but there's some big drug.
- 15:12Speaker 8: Makers that were pushing this legislation in.
- 15:15Speaker 5: Order to protect their market share, and a lot of
- 15:18Speaker 5: the talking points that they used and that they had
- 15:21Speaker 5: the lawmakers use when introducing these bills was around patient safety.
- 15:25Speaker 4: That these were a bill, a bill to protect patient.
- 15:28Speaker 5: Safety, talking about counterfeit drugs and illicit medications, even though
- 15:33Speaker 5: these bills really would target legitimate compounding and pharmacies. Haiti,
- 15:37Speaker 5: can you talk a little bit about the way that
- 15:39Speaker 5: these bills were framed versus what these bills actually.
- 15:43Speaker 4: Would do if they were passed as introduced?
- 15:46Speaker 10: Yes, absolutely, I think that was honestly, probably the biggest
- 15:50Speaker 10: problem we face was the narrative that was being created
- 15:53Speaker 10: around compounding.
- 15:55Speaker 7: Compounding plays a very.
- 15:56Speaker 10: Important and valuable rule in the healthcare space, and a
- 15:59Speaker 10: lot of the dialogue that was being used round being
- 16:02Speaker 10: dangerous and unsafe was super concerning, you know, even outside
- 16:06Speaker 10: of GLP ones. In addition to that, I know some
- 16:10Speaker 10: of the bills, you know, they include language on deceptive advertising,
- 16:13Speaker 10: and you know, I think it's okay to explain that,
- 16:16Speaker 10: you know, a compounded drug is not FDA approved, They're
- 16:19Speaker 10: not supposed.
- 16:19Speaker 7: To be FDA approved. But including language.
- 16:22Speaker 10: Such as it's unsafe does just as a detriment to
- 16:26Speaker 10: compounding as a whole and that ultimate heart patient access.
- 16:29Speaker 7: If you create this narrative that it's so dangerous.
- 16:31Speaker 10: That legislators are going to be encouraged to want to
- 16:33Speaker 10: restrict access to it. So for us, we had a
- 16:37Speaker 10: big hurdle to face in terms of education and awareness
- 16:40Speaker 10: on compounding and why it does exist. And you know,
- 16:43Speaker 10: for many legislators, compounding is such a very complex and
- 16:48Speaker 10: specific issue. So going in and meeting with them, you've
- 16:50Speaker 10: not only had to address the hurdle of what is compounding,
- 16:53Speaker 10: but also what is it in the context of these
- 16:55Speaker 10: bills and what these bills are trying to do. So
- 16:58Speaker 10: I think that was a big part of our efforts
- 17:00Speaker 10: and the planning coordination that went around it.
- 17:05Speaker 5: So, like I said, these bills have been introduced in
- 17:07Speaker 5: about a dozen states. Sarah, can you talk a little
- 17:11Speaker 5: bit about what we've done as an industry to fight
- 17:14Speaker 5: some of this legislation, how APC has helped lead the
- 17:19Speaker 5: charge in the States to get pharmacists to come testify.
- 17:22Speaker 4: We talk a little bit about what the strategy.
- 17:24Speaker 5: Has been in protecting compounding pharmacies in the States from
- 17:29Speaker 5: this legislation getting further along.
- 17:32Speaker 9: Yeah, Denil, So a lot of what we've had to
- 17:34Speaker 9: do as an industry is really correct the record on
- 17:37Speaker 9: what compounding is, what compounding isn't, and really just take
- 17:43Speaker 9: the time to educate these lawmakers on what we do
- 17:47Speaker 9: on a day to day basis, how we fit into
- 17:49Speaker 9: the healthcare ecosystem, how we support the pharmaceutical supply chain.
- 17:54Speaker 9: We have a very unique role, and a lot of
- 17:57Speaker 9: people don't know what that is. So it was a
- 18:01Speaker 9: lot harder because we had to dig ourselves out of
- 18:03Speaker 9: a hole of misconceptions. But I think we got there eventually,
- 18:08Speaker 9: and we know that fight isn't over. So that's our
- 18:11Speaker 9: main strategy is really letting them know what compounding is.
- 18:15Speaker 9: Then another strategy is just conveying to them what the
- 18:19Speaker 9: effects of the bill would actually be to patients. You
- 18:23Speaker 9: can see all of the legislation and the good intentions
- 18:28Speaker 9: and what we would love to do to regulate the
- 18:32Speaker 9: bad actors that operate outside of current regulations, but it's
- 18:36Speaker 9: going to bleed over into compounding pharmacies who are licensed
- 18:41Speaker 9: and operate under federal and state regulations. So really just
- 18:45Speaker 9: putting a face to it and saying there are patients
- 18:48Speaker 9: out here who rely on compounding medications because they can't
- 18:52Speaker 9: take a commercially available option, and when they do, notice
- 18:56Speaker 9: that it is going to impact a lot more patients
- 18:58Speaker 9: than they think and a lot more business than they
- 19:00Speaker 9: realize in taking away access and provider discretion. I think
- 19:06Speaker 9: that's where they truly realized that this bill had unintended
- 19:09Speaker 9: consequences and we really needed to work on the legislation.
- 19:13Speaker 10: And if I could just add to that, Neil, I
- 19:16Speaker 10: think overall, with all the legislation, my biggest concern was
- 19:19Speaker 10: the president it was going to set for.
- 19:21Speaker 7: You know, obviously glp ones.
- 19:22Speaker 10: Were a blockbuster drug, something we've never dealt with before,
- 19:26Speaker 10: and so that's not to say there's going to be
- 19:28Speaker 10: another drug like that ten years from now, twenty years
- 19:30Speaker 10: from now, and so we don't want to set this
- 19:32Speaker 10: president of putting pharmaceutical manufacturing like standards onto compounding pharmacies,
- 19:38Speaker 10: because that is not why compounding pharmacies exist.
- 19:41Speaker 7: Compounding pharmacies exist to.
- 19:42Speaker 10: Meet an individual patient need, and the requirements and processes
- 19:46Speaker 10: that you know, pharmaceutical manufacturers have to go to cannot
- 19:49Speaker 10: be met by a small compounding pharmacy.
- 19:51Speaker 7: That is not what they are built and created to do.
- 19:54Speaker 10: And so I think any of this legislation passing passing
- 19:57Speaker 10: would just again set you know, a very bad example
- 19:59Speaker 10: for future drugs that will be similar to the craze
- 20:02Speaker 10: of DLP ones and how we treat compound pharmacies when
- 20:05Speaker 10: it comes to that space, not including the fact that
- 20:08Speaker 10: you know, we played a critical role in meeting the
- 20:09Speaker 10: gaps when these drugs were on shortage. So again, all
- 20:12Speaker 10: that is just something I think that needs to be
- 20:14Speaker 10: taken in consideration as we move.
- 20:15Speaker 9: Forward, Exactly, Katie, Like, if they can target one class
- 20:20Speaker 9: of medications, what's to say that they can't target HRT
- 20:24Speaker 9: in the future, which is one of the biggest classes
- 20:28Speaker 9: of medications that we compound for our patients. That has
- 20:31Speaker 9: a huge impact for our patients in the industry.
- 20:36Speaker 6: And if I could add to this also, I think
- 20:39Speaker 6: one thing APC has done a really nice job at
- 20:42Speaker 6: is really unwinding the narrative and the conflation between illicit
- 20:47Speaker 6: and counterfeit drugs with compounding. We know that that has
- 20:51Speaker 6: been a message that has been out there by some groups,
- 20:55Speaker 6: and really needing to unwind that and explain the difference
- 20:58Speaker 6: between the two has been a key in the education
- 21:01Speaker 6: that APC has done during this legislative session.
- 21:05Speaker 5: One of the things that APC learned as these bills
- 21:07Speaker 5: were introduced around the country. You know, we hadn't had
- 21:09Speaker 5: a whole lot of experience dealing with state level legislation
- 21:12Speaker 5: in the past, is kind of what the steps are
- 21:15Speaker 5: needed to take when you're talking about defeating state legislation
- 21:19Speaker 5: or changing state legislation. So we had to, you know,
- 21:24Speaker 5: say a bill was introduced in a particular state, we
- 21:26Speaker 5: would run reports of all the pharmacies and pharmacists that
- 21:29Speaker 5: were in that state to gather a group of, uh,
- 21:32Speaker 5: you know, people that would be actively involved in helping
- 21:35Speaker 5: with getting the legislation stopped.
- 21:37Speaker 4: So the kind of people that would.
- 21:39Speaker 5: Go in make these visits, you know, to their legislators
- 21:43Speaker 5: either in their offices or invite them to their pharmacies.
- 21:46Speaker 5: We hired lobbyists around the country. In most states we
- 21:49Speaker 5: ended up hiring a lobbyist. This was the first time
- 21:51Speaker 5: that we really ever hired these state level lobbyists to
- 21:54Speaker 5: deal with state legislative issues.
- 21:56Speaker 4: You know, we've had a federal lobbyist for years, but
- 21:58Speaker 4: these are this is new.
- 21:59Speaker 5: So I was dealing with hiring and developing contracts with
- 22:03Speaker 5: lobbyists all around the country and directing their activities saying
- 22:07Speaker 5: this is what we need to do to get these
- 22:09Speaker 5: bills stopped.
- 22:11Speaker 4: So the.
- 22:13Speaker 5: First state that really had anything that actually went through
- 22:16Speaker 5: that ended up crossing the finish line and actually the
- 22:18Speaker 5: only state, and we're going to cross our fingers and
- 22:20Speaker 5: say the only state.
- 22:21Speaker 4: This year with Indiana, and Indiana is a.
- 22:25Speaker 5: Little bit different than some of the other states in
- 22:27Speaker 5: the legislation that ended.
- 22:28Speaker 4: Up getting passed.
- 22:29Speaker 5: And Katie, do you want to talk a little bit
- 22:33Speaker 5: about Indiana and how it was different than the kind
- 22:35Speaker 5: of the other state legislation which shared a lot of
- 22:38Speaker 5: the same DNA.
- 22:40Speaker 4: Yes.
- 22:40Speaker 10: So for Indiana, that was kind of our first trial
- 22:43Speaker 10: run in terms of how to actually treat the bill,
- 22:45Speaker 10: how to triage it, how to get amendments, in how
- 22:47Speaker 10: to work with legislators, and how to testify. And at
- 22:51Speaker 10: the end of the day, you know, pharmacists, pharmacy owners,
- 22:54Speaker 10: those are who are altoly going to be affected by
- 22:56Speaker 10: these bills, and so that's who we want in their testifying.
- 22:59Speaker 10: Except for most pharmacists, that's not something they're doing on
- 23:02Speaker 10: a regular basis. So you not only had the issue
- 23:05Speaker 10: of having to recruit people quickly, but also get them
- 23:08Speaker 10: up to speed on what the building, which is how
- 23:10Speaker 10: it'll affect them, and you know how to you know,
- 23:12Speaker 10: successfully testify before you're the members of your legislature. And
- 23:16Speaker 10: so fortunately with Indiana, it went through multiple, multiple rounds
- 23:21Speaker 10: of amendments where we ultimately got it to where essentially
- 23:25Speaker 10: aligns with federal law, which I think we can all
- 23:27Speaker 10: agree totally makes sense and we are happy with the
- 23:29Speaker 10: outcome there, especially with that being the only bill, as
- 23:33Speaker 10: you said fingers Cross, hopefully the only bill that has passed.
- 23:36Speaker 7: So I think Indiana was definitely our practice round.
- 23:40Speaker 10: I think there was room for improvement as we were
- 23:42Speaker 10: all kind of learning as we want the best way
- 23:44Speaker 10: to go about it, but ultimately I think we came
- 23:46Speaker 10: out with a win there.
- 23:48Speaker 5: The Indiana build, like like Katie said, did essentially just
- 23:52Speaker 5: require compounding and pharmacies to adhere to federal law section
- 23:56Speaker 5: five to three A of the Food Dragging Cosmetic deckt
- 23:59Speaker 5: But it also created a registration system for medspas, which
- 24:02Speaker 5: is different than much of the other legislation that's been
- 24:05Speaker 5: introduced that kind of shares the same DNA we're talking about,
- 24:09Speaker 5: Sarah or Lauren, does one of you want to talk
- 24:11Speaker 5: about that, that MEDSPA legislation and you know kind of
- 24:16Speaker 5: where we think that the industry might go there.
- 24:19Speaker 6: What we saw in Indiana was a requirement for registration
- 24:25Speaker 6: for medspas which had not been in the statute prior.
- 24:31Speaker 6: There is some enforcement that will happen by the Board
- 24:36Speaker 6: of Pharmacy, but the registration will happen for the medspas.
- 24:42Speaker 6: This was something we did see the first time the
- 24:45Speaker 6: American MEDSPA Association come into the conversation. So there are
- 24:51Speaker 6: some other requirements within that language, but really one of
- 24:55Speaker 6: the only bills that addressed the MEDSPA aspect of the
- 25:01Speaker 6: GLP one compounding or i would say more of the
- 25:06Speaker 6: lifestyle treatment therapies that we see.
- 25:11Speaker 5: There was one other bill that was introduced that with
- 25:14Speaker 5: a quite a bit of fanfare. Actually, there was a
- 25:16Speaker 5: press conference that was done that included a patient that
- 25:20Speaker 5: had taken a compounded JLP one and unfortunately had to
- 25:24Speaker 5: have a liver transplant.
- 25:27Speaker 8: And you know, this press conference was.
- 25:29Speaker 5: With the executive director of the Board of Pharmacy in Kentucky,
- 25:33Speaker 5: the patient, and.
- 25:34Speaker 4: The legislator that introduced it.
- 25:36Speaker 5: And you know, this press conference made it seem like
- 25:39Speaker 5: the bill that was coming in Kentucky was going to
- 25:41Speaker 5: be very similar to the bill that the bills that
- 25:43Speaker 5: had been introduced around the country, but it actually ended
- 25:46Speaker 5: up being really different. Katie, can you speak to the
- 25:50Speaker 5: Kentucky bill at all.
- 25:52Speaker 7: Yeah, the Kentucky bill totally caused my surprise.
- 25:55Speaker 10: I think when we found out about it, we had
- 25:56Speaker 10: learned that it was connected to a patient and also
- 25:59Speaker 10: the fact that the boarder pharmacy helped drive some of
- 26:02Speaker 10: the language.
- 26:02Speaker 7: That was included.
- 26:04Speaker 10: And I think the Kentucky bill was a step in
- 26:07Speaker 10: the right direction. You know, we definitely had some concerns
- 26:10Speaker 10: with it in certain areas, but the overall goal of
- 26:12Speaker 10: the bill was aligned with what we agree would be
- 26:14Speaker 10: best done to control some of.
- 26:16Speaker 7: These bad actors that are out there.
- 26:18Speaker 10: And you know, I think when you compare the Kentucky
- 26:20Speaker 10: bill to the legislation that we saw in other states,
- 26:24Speaker 10: it's addressing the wide range of bad actors and focusing
- 26:27Speaker 10: on unlicensed facilities, which where we believe.
- 26:30Speaker 7: Was most of the the concern is at, whereas.
- 26:34Speaker 10: The legislation and the other states was focused on solely
- 26:36Speaker 10: on compounding pharmacies, which you know, if there's a compounding
- 26:39Speaker 10: pharmacy who's acting bad out there. There's already existing regulation
- 26:42Speaker 10: to acknowledge that and address that. So if the other
- 26:45Speaker 10: legislation passed, it would do nothing to address those outside
- 26:48Speaker 10: bad actors, whereas the Kentucky bill would focus more on
- 26:51Speaker 10: those and give the Boarder of Pharmacy the ability to step.
- 26:54Speaker 7: In when there was cause for concern.
- 26:57Speaker 9: I think the Kentucky bill was a really interesting example
- 27:00Speaker 9: of where we kind of want this legislation to lead
- 27:04Speaker 9: in the process that we need to have bringing more
- 27:07Speaker 9: stakeholders to the table. If we're all trying to combat
- 27:10Speaker 9: these bad actors and unlicensed entities entering the pharmacy space,
- 27:15Speaker 9: we all need to work together on that because we
- 27:17Speaker 9: all have different perspectives and we all come from different
- 27:20Speaker 9: backgrounds to be able to make this what it needs
- 27:23Speaker 9: to be. So the Kentucky Bill, I.
- 27:24Speaker 7: Think is going to be interesting to see.
- 27:29Speaker 5: Okay, so we've talked about some of the outliers like
- 27:31Speaker 5: Indiana and Kentucky.
- 27:32Speaker 4: So let's talk about the rest of them, because we
- 27:34Speaker 4: can kind of.
- 27:35Speaker 5: Take the rest of the bills as a whole because
- 27:37Speaker 5: they are so similar, whether they applied to all compounded medications,
- 27:42Speaker 5: which was the case in Washington, which is one of
- 27:45Speaker 5: the reasons that that one was really, you know, relatively
- 27:47Speaker 5: easy to defeat versus got limited only to compounded JLP
- 27:52Speaker 5: ones for weight loss like Colorado, that was relatively difficult
- 27:56Speaker 5: to get that one postponed indefinitely, which is the status
- 28:01Speaker 5: is it's at. Now let's talk about those ones kind
- 28:04Speaker 5: of as a group. All of those have either been
- 28:07Speaker 5: killed in committee, timed out on calendar, or postponed indefinitely.
- 28:13Speaker 5: So all around the country those bills didn't advance, which
- 28:16Speaker 5: tells us a lot about them because the legislators in
- 28:19Speaker 5: those states really came to understand that these bills were
- 28:23Speaker 5: bad for patient access to compounded medications. And I think
- 28:27Speaker 5: that the legislators took some time to understand federal and
- 28:31Speaker 5: state law and what already is required versus not required. Lauren,
- 28:36Speaker 5: do you think that the legislators before the education by
- 28:39Speaker 5: the pharmacists actually understood how compounding works under federal and
- 28:43Speaker 5: state law.
- 28:46Speaker 4: Todail.
- 28:46Speaker 6: It's a great question, and I think doing some of
- 28:49Speaker 6: the visits myself and having some conversations, it's clear that
- 28:54Speaker 6: there was a lack of understanding of how the legal
- 28:57Speaker 6: and regulatory framework works that. You know, pharmacies are very
- 29:03Speaker 6: highly regulated by the FDA, but also they are state
- 29:06Speaker 6: regulated by already the legislatures. So there are state statutes
- 29:13Speaker 6: and pharmacy acts that have specific language that regulate the
- 29:17Speaker 6: state licensed pharmacies, but also the state boards of pharmacy
- 29:21Speaker 6: that also highly regulate these pharmacies.
- 29:23Speaker 7: So it was clear.
- 29:24Speaker 6: That it was an education gap that was not given
- 29:29Speaker 6: to them prior. And many of the legislatures aren't pharmacists.
- 29:32Speaker 6: They don't understand that. We're very lucky to have a
- 29:35Speaker 6: few that are and that understand and are advocates and allies.
- 29:40Speaker 6: But unfortunately the education was not there, but we got
- 29:44Speaker 6: there through the session with all of the meetings and
- 29:47Speaker 6: the education that we were all able to provide.
- 29:50Speaker 5: Yeah, I've had the pleasure of flying out to many
- 29:53Speaker 5: of these states to pay legislators some visits and do
- 29:57Speaker 5: a little compound in one on one and talk about
- 30:00Speaker 5: these bills and how they would prevent patient access. And
- 30:03Speaker 5: you know, we've had pharmacists within these states that have
- 30:05Speaker 5: gone on these visits as well. Sarah and I are
- 30:08Speaker 5: actually just in Sacramento. I feel like that was last
- 30:10Speaker 5: week to do visits and I'm setting up another time
- 30:15Speaker 5: to go back. But Sarah, can you talk about the
- 30:17Speaker 5: visits that we've had with state legislators and what those
- 30:21Speaker 5: look like.
- 30:22Speaker 9: Yeah, so those meetings really look like sitting down and
- 30:26Speaker 9: getting into what the consequences of that bill is going
- 30:30Speaker 9: to be. The bill in California was really framed as
- 30:36Speaker 9: protecting people online from being targeted with ads, so there
- 30:43Speaker 9: was a lot of misconceptions about what the bill really was.
- 30:48Speaker 7: So we spent a lot.
- 30:49Speaker 9: Of time really getting down into the weeds with this
- 30:52Speaker 9: bill and letting them know exactly what this is going
- 30:55Speaker 9: to do. It's going to take away patient access. It's
- 30:58Speaker 9: going to severely limit what patients can and can't do
- 31:03Speaker 9: with their health in the state of California, and so
- 31:06Speaker 9: we spent a lot of time. I think we had
- 31:09Speaker 9: eleven meetings in that one day, so it was a
- 31:13Speaker 9: marathon of a day, but we were really able to
- 31:16Speaker 9: connect with these lawmakers and tell them the direct impact
- 31:21Speaker 9: it would have on their constituents and the people of California,
- 31:24Speaker 9: and it's really important to protect these people's health. And
- 31:27Speaker 9: we were out there. We had I think it was
- 31:29Speaker 9: a whole group of pharmacists. We were all pharmacists out there,
- 31:32Speaker 9: so we were really able to speak to what the
- 31:36Speaker 9: consequences of this bill would be.
- 31:38Speaker 5: So you started, but we have to talk about California.
- 31:42Speaker 5: Why has California been so uniquely challenging?
- 31:45Speaker 4: Do you think, Katie?
- 31:46Speaker 10: The California Border of Pharmacy recently upgraded their USP standards
- 31:50Speaker 10: and actually did more than what was required in USP,
- 31:53Speaker 10: and so that's kind of been a challenge adapting to
- 31:56Speaker 10: those additional requirements. And now on top of that, we
- 31:58Speaker 10: were facing what is our arguably the most challenging legislative
- 32:02Speaker 10: language that we've seen of all the bills in every state.
- 32:06Speaker 10: You know, California, it's such a hub of healthcare and
- 32:09Speaker 10: technology and innovation, and they have a very involved legislature,
- 32:13Speaker 10: and so it's just been a much different culture and
- 32:15Speaker 10: effort compared to what we've done in some of the
- 32:17Speaker 10: other states.
- 32:19Speaker 5: Yeah, the bill in California was introduced in the Assembly
- 32:23Speaker 5: and it was triple referred, so it actually had hearings
- 32:25Speaker 5: in three different committees. And our drug makers that are
- 32:29Speaker 5: pushing these bills have learned along the way.
- 32:31Speaker 4: Of course, we all learn from trial.
- 32:33Speaker 5: And error, and they found a tactic in California that
- 32:36Speaker 5: really has resonated with California lawmakers and in the committee
- 32:40Speaker 5: hearing for Privacy and Consumer Protection, it was quite an
- 32:43Speaker 5: effective display for the people that were proponents of this
- 32:47Speaker 5: bill and the assemblymen who introduced this bill. Sarah, can
- 32:52Speaker 5: you talk about the consumer protection angle that they're calling
- 32:54Speaker 5: out in California.
- 32:56Speaker 9: So the consumer protection angle was really viewing this through
- 33:01Speaker 9: a lens of targeted social media advertising, which, like Tinyel said,
- 33:07Speaker 9: was very effective. We don't want people to be targeted
- 33:12Speaker 9: with ads to make them feel ashamed of who they
- 33:15Speaker 9: are or how they look, or what their bodies look like.
- 33:21Speaker 9: And so that's really what they framed it as. And
- 33:23Speaker 9: that's stuck, and it stuck hard. It was really hard
- 33:27Speaker 9: to get away from. And I think that people still
- 33:31Speaker 9: think that that's what the bill is intended to do,
- 33:33Speaker 9: is to limit those targeted social media advertisements.
- 33:38Speaker 5: Yeah, in California, it's been a little bit different because,
- 33:41Speaker 5: unlike in other states where we really just opposed the legislation,
- 33:45Speaker 5: in California, we authored and offered a complete set of
- 33:50Speaker 5: amendments to the assemblymen who introduced the bill. The amendments,
- 33:55Speaker 5: you know, had advertising restrictions built into them, such as
- 33:59Speaker 5: disclosures that compounded drugs or not. FDA approved a complete
- 34:03Speaker 5: prohibition on advertising that aimed at people under the age
- 34:06Speaker 5: of eighteen.
- 34:07Speaker 4: But we also.
- 34:07Speaker 5: Included an entire news section in the bill that didn't
- 34:10Speaker 5: exist before, surrounding the essentially a copy.
- 34:13Speaker 8: Provisions in California.
- 34:15Speaker 5: As you know, was recently mentioned, California updated its compounding
- 34:19Speaker 5: regulations and right now has the kind of.
- 34:22Speaker 8: Most tight guardrails around compounding.
- 34:24Speaker 5: What is deemed you know, quote unquote essentially a copy
- 34:27Speaker 5: of an FDA proved medication. Where most states follow the
- 34:31Speaker 5: federal guidance which requires a significant difference between FDA approved
- 34:37Speaker 5: and a compounded product to be documented by the pharmacy,
- 34:40Speaker 5: but in California there has to be a clinically significant difference.
- 34:45Speaker 5: So this news section that we added into the bill
- 34:48Speaker 5: actually defined clinically significant difference in a way that isn't
- 34:52Speaker 5: in the California Border Pharmacy regulations.
- 34:54Speaker 4: In an attempt to.
- 34:55Speaker 5: Make it easier for pharmacies to understand what documentation is
- 34:59Speaker 5: enough what is not enough to kind of curtail any
- 35:03Speaker 5: sort of you know, widespread compounding under the guise of personalization,
- 35:08Speaker 5: we did offer a complete set of amendments to the
- 35:10Speaker 5: bill's author that they have.
- 35:12Speaker 4: Not been accepted yet. We did have a meeting with.
- 35:14Speaker 5: The author to talk about these amendments, so we are
- 35:18Speaker 5: hopeful that something will get will get accepted.
- 35:21Speaker 4: You know, we would like something to.
- 35:23Speaker 5: Pass in California that defines what essentially a copy is
- 35:27Speaker 5: and that limits advertising to populations that shouldn't be advertised
- 35:30Speaker 5: to and you know, includes appropriate disclosures that compounded medications.
- 35:34Speaker 4: Are not FD approved.
- 35:37Speaker 5: But because of the way the bill has been framed
- 35:39Speaker 5: in California and the way that California Assembly is focusing
- 35:44Speaker 5: on this like consumer safety patient safety portion of the bill,
- 35:49Speaker 5: which the majority of the bill is not about, and
- 35:52Speaker 5: we don't really have a problem with that part of
- 35:54Speaker 5: the bill. It's going to go to the Full Assembly
- 35:56Speaker 5: this this coming week, and if it passes through the Fullestssembly,
- 36:00Speaker 5: it'll move over to the Senate and we'll start the
- 36:03Speaker 5: process in the Senate over again. So California continues to
- 36:07Speaker 5: be a challenge and we continue to need support in California.
- 36:11Speaker 5: So if you have patients in California, we have a
- 36:16Speaker 5: grassroots initiative where you can send them to compounding dot Com.
- 36:19Speaker 5: It'll send a message to their state assemblyman or legislator
- 36:24Speaker 5: explaining about the bill and what the problems.
- 36:26Speaker 4: With the bill are. If you have the ability to.
- 36:28Speaker 5: Come with us to California, to Sacramento to meet with
- 36:31Speaker 5: these senators next that would be helpful. So any way
- 36:35Speaker 5: to get involved in this advocacy effort if you've got
- 36:38Speaker 5: patients in California is appreciated. But looking forward, but we're
- 36:43Speaker 5: going to you know, it's yet to be seeing what's
- 36:45Speaker 5: going to end up happening in California.
- 36:47Speaker 4: But we do have next year to look forward to
- 36:49Speaker 4: as well.
- 36:49Speaker 5: Katie, can you talk to what we expect to see
- 36:52Speaker 5: next legislative session?
- 36:54Speaker 10: Yes, absolutely, I think next legislative session, I would argue,
- 36:58Speaker 10: could potentially be even more of about battle in states
- 37:01Speaker 10: where we didn't see anything passed, so basically all of
- 37:04Speaker 10: them except for Indiana right now, I think we'll probably
- 37:08Speaker 10: see I think we'll see Pharma cut back a little
- 37:11Speaker 10: bit on the language that they're using.
- 37:13Speaker 7: I think after you know, the.
- 37:14Speaker 10: Multiple states that they have failure in this year, they're
- 37:17Speaker 10: gonna probably pivot their approach in terms of what they
- 37:20Speaker 10: include language wise. But I know for sure Virginia we're
- 37:23Speaker 10: guaranteed to see it build next year.
- 37:25Speaker 7: I'm hearing rumors of Connecticut, Kentucky.
- 37:29Speaker 10: We know we'll be coming back since it did not
- 37:30Speaker 10: make it through in this session. So definitely rumors and
- 37:34Speaker 10: all the states that we had legislation this year, along
- 37:36Speaker 10: with some new ones that we never dealt with. In
- 37:39Speaker 10: addition to that, I know we've kind of been hearing
- 37:41Speaker 10: of Pennsylvania and North Carolina on the side for a
- 37:44Speaker 10: while to be introduced, but have not seen anything there.
- 37:46Speaker 10: So if we don't get any movement out of those
- 37:48Speaker 10: two states, I would go ahead and assume that they're
- 37:50Speaker 10: going to be back next year as well. So I
- 37:53Speaker 10: will say while we're anticipating all of that, we as
- 37:58Speaker 10: an industry are working on a more proactive approach as
- 38:00Speaker 10: we go into next year. Again, this year it was
- 38:03Speaker 10: very much panic mode. We were caught off guard. We
- 38:06Speaker 10: did the best we could with the limited time and
- 38:08Speaker 10: resources we had. So hopefully, given everything we've learned over
- 38:12Speaker 10: the past four months, we're going to be going in
- 38:14Speaker 10: much stronger next year, prepared to have some of these conversations.
- 38:18Speaker 10: And in addition to that, in the states where we've
- 38:20Speaker 10: already had legislation we've had we've already initiated some of
- 38:23Speaker 10: those conversations, so hopefully, you know, we have some of
- 38:25Speaker 10: those relationships going where we've covered some of the basic
- 38:28Speaker 10: education aspect of it and can focus more on strategy
- 38:31Speaker 10: and amending the bills to get them into a position
- 38:33Speaker 10: where both sides are happy.
- 38:36Speaker 5: Yeah, Katie, APC is working on a proactive approach, so
- 38:40Speaker 5: rather than playing defense like we got to do this year,
- 38:43Speaker 5: We've got a group of you know, APC members that
- 38:47Speaker 5: we have got together. They're coming up with potential model
- 38:50Speaker 5: legislation visits with state legislators, you know, talking with attorney generals,
- 38:56Speaker 5: just making a plan for how to go forward to
- 38:59Speaker 5: prevent this kind of legislation from ever getting introduced in
- 39:02Speaker 5: the first place, because there's enough education, you know, in
- 39:06Speaker 5: in these lawmakers offices that they know that this legislation
- 39:12Speaker 5: is not good for patient access. So looking forward, we're
- 39:15Speaker 5: gonna we're going to have a long road ahead of
- 39:18Speaker 5: us of work still to do before the before next year,
- 39:22Speaker 5: and a lot of this work also takes money. Lobbyists
- 39:25Speaker 5: take money, So if you haven't given to the Compounding
- 39:28Speaker 5: Defense Fund, please consider giving to this fight. This fight
- 39:33Speaker 5: is coming back next year. If you have given, Please.
- 39:36Speaker 4: Consider giving again. The fight is not over just because.
- 39:39Speaker 5: We got through twenty twenty six mostly on skates, you know,
- 39:42Speaker 5: crossing our fingers about California.
- 39:45Speaker 4: I think that's about.
- 39:46Speaker 5: It for our state legislative fight on our podcast today.
- 39:50Speaker 5: Unless there's anything that anyone wants to add, I think
- 39:53Speaker 5: that that is about it. If you have questions or
- 39:57Speaker 5: comments or want to reach out to help, please reach
- 39:59Speaker 5: out to me to Neil. I'm leading the advocacy effort
- 40:02Speaker 5: for APC. My email is my name Tanil T E
- 40:05Speaker 5: N I L L E A four PC dot org.
- 40:08Speaker 4: And we'll put that in the show notes and I'll
- 40:10Speaker 4: give it back to you Andrew.
- 40:12Speaker 3: All Right, thank you to Neil. Thank you ladies.
- 40:15Speaker 2: That was exactly the kind of perspective we really need
- 40:18Speaker 2: these days when it comes to those bills and the
- 40:21Speaker 2: thought process behind some of this legislation. People don't always
- 40:26Speaker 2: realize what's happening in their state legislatures, especially when you've got,
- 40:31Speaker 2: let's say, some organizations deliberately trying to muddy the waters.
- 40:37Speaker 2: All right, that is all for this episode of Essential
- 40:41Speaker 2: But before we play that outro music, something I always
- 40:44Speaker 2: point out, if you are a compounding pharmacist or technician,
- 40:48Speaker 2: or if you prescribe compounded meds, APC is almost certainly
- 40:52Speaker 2: helping you and helping your patients. I'm not going to
- 40:55Speaker 2: go through everything APC does, but i will say that
- 40:58Speaker 2: it is the biggest and in a way the loudest
- 41:01Speaker 2: trade association for the whole compounding profession. If you're not
- 41:05Speaker 2: a member of APC, really ought to be. We are
- 41:07Speaker 2: working for you. We'd love to have you on board.
- 41:10Speaker 2: Just head over to a four PC dot org check
- 41:14Speaker 2: us out. All right, Brady, now you can play that
- 41:17Speaker 2: ultro music. Thank you for listening to everyone.