The American Society for Pharmacy Law (ASPL) is an organization of attorneys, pharmacists, pharmacist-attorneys and students of pharmacy or law who are interested in the law as it applies to pharmacy, pharmacists, wholesalers, manufacturers, state and federal government and other interested parties.

ASPL is a nonprofit organization with the purposes of

  • Furthering knowledge in the law related to pharmacists, pharmacies, the provision of pharmaceutical care, the manufacturing and distribution of drugs, and other food, drug, and medical device policy issues;
  • Communicating accurate legal educational information; and
  • Providing educational opportunities for pharmacists, attorneys, and others who are interested in pharmacy law

ASPL has become the premier source to engage with the entire spectrum of professionals at the intersection of pharmacy and legal matters. With my formal training, I approach our meetings with the assumption that I have grasped all of the components that contribute to the pharmacy profession. However, engaging with ASPL has placed context around the various, often overlooked, downstream and upstream factors that impact the law as it applies to pharmacy.
Monet Stanford, PharmD

Latest News

July 16,  2019

DRUG SUPPLY CHAIN

Blog posting summarizes FDA’s pilot program to use blockchain methodology for track and trace
In February, the FDA announced a pilot program being undertaken by IBM, KPMG, Merck, and Walmart to implement a pilot project to evaluate the utility of blockchain methodology for implementing track and trace. A recent blog from SheppardMullin summarizes the project and its potential benefits and drawbacks. A blockchain is a growing list of records stored electronically using cryptographic links. It is most widely known as the mechanism by which a transaction ledger is maintained for bitcoin, but blockchain technology is widely used for other commercial applications. In 2018, for example, the New York Times reported that Walmart was using IBM cloud servers to track sources of lettuce and spinach sold by Walmart in hopes of better spotting contaminated product. [Corkery M, Popper N. From farm to blockchain: Walmart tracks its lettuce. New York Times 2018 Sep 24; https://nyti.ms/2lEc4vi]

In general, a blockchain is a digital ledger that records transactions across decentralized servers; any retroactive change to a record alters all subsequent records, so that users may audit and verify transactions. As ledgers grow, however, the processing of the blockchain slows, requires more computing resources and more storage space. The project is due for completion during the final quarter of 2019, and, according to the blog authors, “Ideally ... will allow both the FDA and industry leaders to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of blockchain as a potential solution, and decide whether and how to best implement the technology moving forward.” [Gilkeson S, Tilton JM. What’s in the bottle? FDA announces new blockchain pilot program for tracking drug distribution. Lexology 2019 Jul 12; http://bit.ly/2lBMWoX]