2023 Marks 100 Years of Success

By Mark Land, AAHP President

This year AAHP turns 100 years old. Over that time, our association has represented the interests of homeopathic manufacturers with one goal in mind: Enabling and growing the prestige of the industry through positive and productive dialog with lawmakers, regulators, retailers, and other homeopathic stakeholders.

In recent years due to COVID-19 and other factors, there has been a heightened awareness and value of many OTC and self-care products, including homeopathic medicines, as consumers endeavored to shake off common treatable conditions and keep their immune systems high. The importance of maintaining access to and ensuring the quality of homeopathic OTCs is greater than ever. This will remain AAHP’s top priority. Let’s look ahead to AAHP’s 2023 projects.

Events: Education and Networking

Beyond reinforcing our industry’s knowledge and compliance, AAHP plans the following events for 2023, strengthening relations with FDA, major retailers, and other significant organizations.

  • AAHP Town Hall meeting community briefing and Q&A.
  • AAHP Annual Membership Meeting with updates from AAHP Legal Counsel Al Lorman and AAHP Lobbyist Pete Evich and the debut of AAHP’s 100th anniversary slide presentation. (March 16)
  • Annual Executive Briefing (March 21)
  • HPUS Updates by Eric Foxman (May)
  • AAHP Summit, Part Three. GMP White Papers update, Compliance report. (September)
  • AAHP Industry Reception with The Emerson Group and others in Philadelphia. (Sept. 20)
  • AAHP Semiannual Membership Meeting (Oct.)
  • 100th Anniversary Celebration (Nov.)

Information on Issues Affecting Your Business

AAHP is working on timely and insightful alerts for members. Some hot topics for us this year are:

  • FDA’s final guidance for homeopathic products.
  • A summary of FDA’s enforcement action against homeopathic products.
  • Review of FDA responses to homeopathic petitions.
  • Networking with and learning from our global partners: Canadian Homeopathic Pharmaceutical Association (CHPA) and European Committee for Homeopathic and Anthroposophic Products. (ECHAMP).
  • Research agenda for homeopathic products.

Regulators and Legislators: Educating to Protect Your Environment

During the seven years of regulatory review of homeopathic products, AAHP has made every effort to ensure a favorable regulatory climate for our products while maintaining public safety. As the temperature subsides, the association’s focus has shifted to building compliance and building a relationship with FDA by working on regulatory and technical ambiguity in the manufacturing process.

In 2023, AAHP plans to further relations with FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) by inviting presentations from FDA’s Office of Compliance and the Compendial Operations Branch.

Additionally, our Congressional education campaign will be reactivated now that the 118th Congress has been organized. Our aim will be to bring legislators up to date on the work we are doing with FDA and gaps that remain to be closed.

Stimulating Retailer Relations

This year will be our fifth presentation of the Integrative Medicine Retailer Award. We are looking forward to highlighting the accomplishments of a retailer that makes a difference within their community and consumer health in general by providing a wide variety of health care options for consumers within their stores. The event will be held in person in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Natural Products Expo East.

Looking Forward to Another Successful Year

2023 is AAHP’s centennial year, during which the association will continue to deliver events and projects aimed at improving the business of homeopathic medicines.

I’d like to thank the volunteers from several companies and industry consultants who gave many hours toward organizing events, openly sharing proprietary information, and attending board and committee meetings to improve our industry for the benefit of everyone.