Innovations-Annual-Meeting-Issue-2022 - 8

118th
ANNUAL MEETING
2021-2022 Legal Affairs Annual Report
The Legal Affairs team celebrates its 15th
staff education, and document drafting services, among many other kinds of support.
Board and Association Support
In furtherance of NABP's educational outreach
to its member boards, the legal team hosted
the Interactive Compliance Officer and
Legal Counsel Forum from November 30 to
December 1, 2021. Counsel from 34 boards
of pharmacy joined the forum, the highest
participation yet for the biennial educational
forum. Programming included board counsel
discussions of administrative review, appellate
cases involving state regulatory boards, and
state and federal laws to expand pharmacist
scope of practice due to the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The legal team summarized relevant court
cases and board of pharmacy COVID19-related
disciplinary actions and shared
the summaries with forum participants.
With the rapid growth of the Association,
Legal Affairs continues to expand its support.
The team helped launch the new NABP
Verify credentialing service by drafting a
memorandum of understanding for states
interested in recognizing the credential and
participating in the program. Maintenance
of Association trademarks is now managed
by the legal team. Close collaboration with
Association staff helps strengthen policies
and compliance processes.
Litigation
NABP is a party to three lawsuits:
* In January 2020, the Association sued an
individual, alleging copyright infringement
related to an NABP examination. NABP
and the individual reached a binding
settlement agreement in January 2022, and
the lawsuit has been dismissed.
* NABP is a defendant in a case involving
its Drug Distributor Accreditation.
Three applicants to the accreditation
program sued NABP, claiming, among
other things, that NABP is a state actor
and its accreditation program criteria are
preempted under federal law. Following
dismissal of all claims against NABP
in December 2020, two of the three
6 | ANNUAL MEETING 2022
year providing essential legal services to NABP. The team continues to deliver legal counseling,
plaintiffs appealed the court decision.
The appeal is pending before the Federal
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
* In August 2019, an organization that
accredits international pharmacies that
ship medications to the United States
sued NABP and others supporting safe
online pharmacies. The international
pharmacy accreditor claimed that NABP
and the other organizations conspired
to exclude it from internet search engine
results and reduce consumer choice,
among other claims. Following the
March 2021 denial of NABP's motion to
dismiss the case, the federal court in New
York ordered discovery to be conducted
in two phases, with phase one focused
on the legality of the accreditor's business
model. The parties continue to conduct
phase one discovery. NABP denies the
allegations in this case. NABP filed
counterclaims against this organization
in May 2021, alleging it misleads
consumers about the safety and legality
of imported drugs. The organization filed
a motion to dismiss the counterclaims in
November 2021. The 2019 lawsuit and
2021 counterclaims are both pending in
the US District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
NABP is vigorously protecting its assets and
operations in all three cases, but it is not able to
comment otherwise on the pending litigation.
Continuing Contributions
The Legal Affairs team will continue to
provide vital support to NABP and its
member boards through educational
initiatives, examination defense, and
fostering NABP-board agreements for
services. NABP's strong partnership with its
members is key to the success of our joint
efforts to protect public health.

Innovations-Annual-Meeting-Issue-2022

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