January 19, 2024

They don’t know what they don’t know

It was another week of interesting reporting on GLP-1s—compounded, counterfeit, and commercially available. Even after referencing our extensive online statement on shortage drug compounding and semaglutide, one reporter managed to refer in her story to the API semaglutide as the “generic” for the commercially available products.

APC continues to field multiple media inquiries each week about the GLP-1 craze and compounding’s role when the manufactured drugs are listed as “currently in shortage” on the FDA Drug Shortage List. This week it was Salon and CNN.

On the one hand, it’s great that some major news organizations are recognizing APC as the voice for pharmacy compounding and seeking us out for facts and perspective. On the other hand, there continue to be plenty of stories published about compounded GLP-1s in which the reporter is oblivious to APC, and almost without exception those stories end up containing factual errors about compounding. (Here’s one, just to annoy you.) 

Reporters don’t know what they don’t know. And while for some that’s willful ignorance – they don’t stop to consider there may be another side to the story they’re getting from FDA and drug manufacturers—many are conscientious, looking to learn more, and want to get the story straight. We need to be on their radar.

Your APC Board of Directors has authorized a $50,000 expenditure for us to engage media relations counsel to help us cultivate relationships with national healthcare reporters. It includes exhibiting at the Associations of Healthcare Journalists conference in June, as well as a series of tours of compounding pharmacies by reporters. 

We know the true story of compounding. We want reporters to know it, too. 

We’ll keep you posted as we begin to execute our plan.

– Tenille

Tenille Davis, PharmD, RPh, FAPC, is pharmacist-in-charge at Civic Center Pharmacy in Scottsdale, Arizona (for now). You can reach her at tenille@civiccenterpharmacy.com until January 31. We’ll let you know her new email address when she starts at APC in February.