The Future of AAHP: Quality, Integrity, and Trust
This article is part of a series on the history of AAHP that expands on information originally presented in AAHP’s 100th Anniversary Report.
Our last installment in a series on the history of AAHP brings us to recent activity. Following the industry banning together for the 2015 FDA public hearing and FTC workshop, the association’s focus has shifted to building overall compliance and a relationship with FDA by working on regulatory and technical ambiguities in cGMPs. AAHP hosted a series of industry-wide “summits,” the first of which drew more than 100 in-person attendees from the U.S. and five other countries. FDA’s Director of Office of Manufacturing Quality served as the keynote speaker; this led to engagement with FDA’s Office of Compendial Affairs to identify and solve technical gaps.
The second summit continued to build relations with FDA by together exploring compliance solutions related to the agency’s enforcement priorities. This summit included a frank dialogue with the presenter from FDA who also provided breaking insights into FDA’s concerns with potential contaminants impacting inactive ingredients commonly used in homeopathic products. These insights helped the industry avoid problems by knowing of their possibilities ahead of time. FDA presentations at AAHP Summits continue an ongoing collaborative educational effort with FDA personnel that had begun several years earlier with their presentations at in-person and virtual seminars.
AAHP responded to FDA’s enforcement action against homeopathic injectable products by engaging in meaningful discussions with FDA’s Office of Compliance. These meetings revealed the agency’s concern about safety. AAHP then filed an amicus curia in support of the safety of homeopathic medicines in general.
On behalf of membership and the industry in general, AAHP filed comments and alerted industry on FDA’s draft guidance on annual reporting of quantities of manufactured or compounded drugs. AAHP’s comments focused on the large variety of homeopathic drug products and the small quantities produced in comparison with the goals of collecting the information. AAHP requested revision of the guidance to only require submission of relevant and meaningful information.
On a parallel track, AAHP launched an annual Industry Reception. The forum was designed to connect and support retailers who champion the industry’s products with manufacturers’ sales executives. At the receptions, the AAHP Integrative Medicine Retailer Award was presented to Wegmans, Rite Aid, Meijer, H-E-B, and Walgreens. Concurrently, the association organized several successful Annual Executive Briefing for C-level leaders within member companies.
As AAHP’s second century began, the shifting constellation of members and changing focus of the association made the original name misleading to many. The “industry” has evolved from individual pharmacies to manufacturing and marketing companies. Thus, beginning in 2024, a new name was adopted: American Association for Homeopathic Products.
This concludes our History of AAHP series. Be sure to check out previous articles with highlights of the U.S. homeopathic market, the industry, and the association in prior decades.
This article is part of a series on the history of AAHP that expands on information originally presented in AAHP’s 100th Anniversary Report. The full series of articles includes sections on: