From APC’s President
Divided we stand, together we rise
Dear A4PC,
Michael Blaire, RPh, FIACP
APC President
One day in 1908, the richest man in the world invited a young man into his office and offered him the greater part of his vast fortune. However, it was not cash that he offered. He proposed to instruct the young man on the manner and method in which to amass such a fortune for himself.
The wealthy man was legendary steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The young man was a college student and writer named Napoleon Hill. Carnegie explained the rudiments of his philosophy: That success, fortune and fame could be enjoyed by anyone willing to follow a specific formula, formed from his own experience as the world's most successful entrepreneur.
Hill would take Carnegie's ideas and reinforce them with the thoughts and experiences of hundreds of other successful businessmen, eventually writing several books about what he had learned. Think and Grow Rich was published in 1937, and became Hill's most successful book. In it, he formulates a philosophy of success that offers concrete guidelines for anyone seeking great achievement. The book has become the model on which many other success and self-help books are based.
Hill, the man himself
In Chapter 10, Hill expounds what he refers to as "The Mastermind Principle." Hill described that as, “The coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people who work towards a definite purpose in a spirit of harmony ... no two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind,” also known as the Mastermind.
Put simply, two heads are better than one.
I attended my first Compounders on Capitol Hill in 2004. There were several hundred IACP members there, and being relatively new to the compounding world, I knew none of them. Having no one to eat lunch with, I grabbed an open seat at the IACP Fellowship Awards lunch and wound up sitting next to Scott Karolchyk, one of the award recipients.
I congratulated Scott and offered to buy him a drink after lunch. I made my first friend. At one point I mentioned that I was looking for a formula for apomorphine tablets. Without hesitation Scott said “I have one. I'll send it to you after the meeting.” Coming from the world of low margin, third-party based, cut-throat retail pharmacy, I was stunned by this willingness to share with a competitor. In fact, everyone I met thereafter shared the same attitude: We are allies, not competitors. Over the years I have helped, and been helped by, many of our members.
If you’re a pharmacy compounding professional, then APC is your “Mastermind.” No other organization offers you access to the thought leaders and movers and shakers of our profession that APC does. But you know this already.
What you may not know is that our membership is shrinking. Whether due to mergers and acquisitions, retirements or economics, we are 100 members down from the same time last year. We cannot survive as an association if we cannot attract and retain new members, so I am asking all of you to help.
It is not enough for one person in your pharmacy to be an APC member. All of your pharmacists and technicians should be. Likewise, if you know of other compounding professionals in your area, urge them to become members. The future of our profession and your business is at stake.
Michael Blaire is APC’s president, but his day job is vice president for government and regulatory affairs at Wedgewood Pharmacy in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can reach him at mblaire@wedgewoodpharmacy.com.
Medisca commits to five-year deal as platinum patron
Includes "compounding.com" domain
APC and its longtime supporter Medisca have agreed to a five-year deal that includes Medisca’s five-year commitment as a Platinum-level APC Corporate Patron. The deal, valued at $300,000, includes an exclusive license 
for APC to use the compounding.com domain for its upcoming cBHT media campaign, as well as for any consumer-focused follow-on campaign aimed at elevating pharmacy compounding.
"We're deeply grateful for this support from our friends at Medisca," said APC’s CEO, Scott Brunner. "It’s a vote of confidence in the work APC is doing. We look forward to a productive partnership with Medisca as we defend pharmacy compounding and protect patient access to compounded preparations."
District II holds year’s first town hall
Big shout-out to APC District II's Joseph P. Navarra and Philip Smyth — they held a district town hall Wednesday (our first of the year!) and drew more than 40 compounders from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for an update on the compounding world with a bit of networking. Nice job!
Our plan is to hold more of these — hopefully one for each of APC’s seven districts.
More than 100 set to attend Owner Summit
APC's Owner Summit is just about sold out, with more than 100 people already registered. (The room block at the Westin is, in fact, sold out, but there's still room at the nearby Hampton Inn & Suites.)
But "just about" means there's still a chance to register for the few remaining spots at what's going to be one of the most important and useful compounder meetings of the year.
As the slogan says, this meeting is all business, aimed at giving compouding business owners tools, ideas, and specifics they can bring home to give their businesses a post-pandemic boost.
Get the details of the sessions and speaker, then register ... while you still can: A4PC.org/ownersummit.
Reminder: We need those cBHT testimonials
Collecting testimonials from patients, pharmacists, and prescribers about how compounded hormones have improved their lives is critical for our effort to prevent them from being restricted by FDA.
We've got more than 3,600, but while that seems like a lot, it still doesn't cover most of the country's congressional districts. In a perfect world, we would have testimonials from all 435 districts.
Please continue to spread the word! Submit your testimonial or your patient's at A4PC.org/cbhtandme — every story matters!
March 26–27, 2021 — APC’s 2021 Compounding Pharmacy Owner Summit
April 6, 7, 8 — USP webinars on chapters <797>, <800>, and <795>, respectively
April 13; 2:00-3:00p.m. EST — CE webinar: "Pharmacy Fulfillment for Consumer-Focused Telehealth Platforms"
June 10–11, 2021 — PCCA Act Conference (virtual)
September 14–15, 2021 — Compounders on Capitol Hill (mark your calendars!)
Pharmacy law scholarship: Mom wanted you to be a lawyer. You wanted to go into pharmacy. Why not both? If you're a pharmacist attending law school, the American Society for Pharmacy Law has a scholarship you might be interested in. The $5,000 Fink Family Scholarship is for a pharmacist attending law school. Learn the details and see if you're eligible.
USP’s free webinar, "Quality, Speed & Equity: Delivering COVID-19 Vaccines to the World" is this Monday, March 15, 10:30am to noon EDT.
Experts from organizations central to vaccine development and delivery, regulatory oversight and quality assurance will discuss over the course of two high-level panels what’s needed for the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign, how to build public trust in the quality and effectiveness of vaccines, and how these investments can build better systems for the future.
ICYMI
FDA’s smoking gun: The FOIA request from a coaltion of compounders revealed the startling depth of the FDA’s (inappropriate!) involvement in the NASEM report on cBHT. Read what those documents showed, and how the coalition’s attorney responded at A4PC.org/smokinggun.
Don't forget to download, print, and display the new APC Compounder’s Code of Ethics at A4PC.org/downloadthecode.
And don't forget to share with your team Jon Pritchett’s powerful video, "The APC Code of Ethics: Ensuring Your Reputation and Legal Standing" on APC’s updated Code of Ethics page.
