Your Reputation Precedes You

By Mark Land, AAHP President

Brian Westerlind, Editor of the Network News, writes in his article on warning letters: “Each day AAHP works to promote excellence in the practice of homeopathic manufacturing. While achieving true excellence is a lofty goal, it begins with a few simple principles you can start to implement today.”

These days, reputation seems to be everything. A celebrity may have tens of millions of followers on his or her social platform. Just one misstep, however, and a carefully cultivated reputation can crash with a few tweets. Often the reason for the rapid decline is the realization among followers that the celebrity failed to live up to their reputation – real or imagined.

More than ten years ago, the AAHP Board reviewed the mission statement of the association and reconfirmed “AAHP works to promote excellence in the practice of homeopathic manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of homeopathic drug products.” Why was that so? Because the directors at that time recognized that our consumers expect and deserve high quality, reliable products every time.

I have read many warning letters and GMP inspection reports that have something in common: The Food and Drug Administration does a good job writing observations that make headlines. For example, "Manufacturer failed to establish a quality unit" or "Manufacturer failed to establish sterility assurance program." Reading headlines like that as a manufacturer causes your heart to sink through the floor. Reading them as a trade association causes you to question the practices of a member. A consumer however, rightly reads that headline and wonders about the safety of the product she just gave her child.

Reputation is important for all the reasons you can imagine from these illustrations. As an industry we are much more effective if we are working toward common objectives, rather than devoting resources to repairing reputations.

Brian Westerlind said a few simple principles can start you on your way to GMP compliance. The first simple principle is: Keep the consumer’s health and safety in mind in every decision you make.

If you do that, you will never fail to establish a quality unit!