National Association of Boards of Pharmacy

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^[1] (NABP) is an international association which assists state licensing boards in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards relating to pharmacies. Originating in the United States in 1904, its membership now includes two Australian states and nine Canadian provinces in addition to the fifty federal states of the US, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories.

Part of the NABP's work includes standardised tests to aid in licensing, such as the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination and NAPLEX. In addition, in 1999 the NABP developed the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program to accredit online pharmacies. Vet-VIPPS, awarded to online veterinary pharmacies, has been granted to sites including PetMeds, VetCentric,^[2] and VetRxDirect.^[3] In a 2004 press release the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended VIPPS to consumers as "one method to help minimize the risks of getting bad quality drugs from disreputable sources.

In 2004, the NABP developed the Verified-Accredited Wholesale Distributors (VAWD) program to accredit Wholesale Distributors and to help protect the public from the threat of counterfeit drugs.^[4]

In 2011, the organization implemented a data exchange that allows authorized pharmacists, law enforcement agents, and regulatory boards to access patient-specific controlled substance prescription information. Known as NABP InterConnect®, the platform provides a single page summary of patient's drug seeking activities across state lines. As of 2013, authorized users in 11 states have accessed data using the system in order to prevent drug abuse and drug diversion.^[5]

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