June 2026 Electronic Mailbags
Alabama Board of Medical Examiners Notice on Prescribing Non-FDA-Approved, Research-Grade Peptides
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is sharing a notice recently issued by the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners (ALBME) concerning the prescribing, administering, dispensing, and recommending of non-Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, research-grade peptides to patients.
Under Alabama law, physicians are prohibited from compounding, administering, dispensing, prescribing, advising, recommending, or supplying research-grade peptide substances to patients. The notice clarifies that this prohibition extends to all practitioners operating under physician supervision, including certified registered nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants, none of whom are legally authorized to prescribe, administer, advise, or dispense a non-FDA-approved or research-grade peptide. All prescription products must be purchased from an entity permitted by the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy. The ALBME also notes that patient consent forms purporting to identify a product as “research-grade” are ineffective and do not eliminate the health care provider’s professional or legal liability.
The efforts of the licensing boards, including this notice, are a meaningful example of interdisciplinary regulatory cooperation. Boards of pharmacy have traditionally taken the lead in enforcing laws and rules pertaining to the dispensing and distribution of products intended to prevent or mitigate disease. However, pharmacy boards often lack the legal jurisdiction to extend their enforcement powers to individuals they don’t license, such as physicians. Therefore, when a state medical board takes direct action to address this issue at the prescriber level, it strengthens the full regulatory framework for protecting patients. Actions like this one reflect the kind of cross-disciplinary accountability that effective public health protection requires.
This notice is also particularly timely, given the documented increase in medical professionals offering non-FDA-approved and research-grade peptides to patients in recent years. That trend has heightened the awareness and exploitation of a regulatory void that exists in most states. Proactive medical board engagement is an important step in addressing this multifaceted problem. NABP hopes that other medical and nursing boards can work similarly with the boards of pharmacy in their jurisdictions.
If you have any questions, contact the Member Relations and Government Affairs department via email at governmentaffairs@nabp.pharmacy.
Telephone Phishing Scam Targeting Pharmacies
NABP is alerting the boards of pharmacy to a telephone phishing scam that has been reported, involving pharmacies in at least one jurisdiction. NABP asks that boards notify their licensees about this activity as soon as possible.
Description of the Scam
In this scam, a pharmacy receives a phone call from someone who claims to represent the board of pharmacy. The caller ID shows NABP’s official telephone number, which bad actors have spoofed to appear legitimate. The caller then attempts to solicit information from pharmacy staff, including information that may constitute personally identifiable information (PII).
Caller ID spoofing is a technique used by scammers to make an incoming call appear to originate from a trusted or official source. A familiar phone number on caller ID does not confirm the identity of the caller.
What Boards Should Tell Their Licensees
NABP asks boards to communicate the following points to their licensees:
- NABP will never call a licensee on behalf of a board of pharmacy.
- NABP will never contact a licensee to ask for PII, financial information, or other sensitive information over the phone.
- If a licensee receives a suspicious call of this nature, they should hang up and contact their board of pharmacy directly by using the official contact information listed on the board’s website.
Reporting
Boards that become aware of licensees who have received calls of this nature are encouraged to document those reports and share relevant information with NABP. This will help NABP assess the scope of the activity and determine whether additional action is warranted.
If you have any questions or wish to report an incident, contact NABP Executive Office via email at ExecOffice@nabp.pharmacy.
Uniform MPJE (UMPJE) Reaches 1,000 Examinee Milestone
UMPJE Reaches 1,000 Examinee Milestone
As of June 25, 2026, the UMPJE has surpassed 1,000 total exams, with a total of 1,110 exams administered in eleven different jurisdictions. The current UMPJE pass rate is 84.3%.
In January 2027, NABP will post the complete UMPJE 2026 calendar year pass rate data to the NABP website and distribute individual UMPJE summary reports to each school of pharmacy that had at least one student take the UMPJE in the 2026 calendar year.
If you have any questions on UMPJE development or reporting, contact us at research@nabp.pharmacy.