BY LYNNE JETER

Charges that an Orlando-based pharmacy was the hub of a nationwide drug ring involving the supply of steroids and human-growth hormone has brought intense media scrutiny on Signature Compounding Pharmacy, a $30 million-per-year family-run business that filled 300,000 prescriptions in 2006.

In March, Orlando Medical News published the article, "Pharmacy Makes Customized Medications," featuring registered pharmacists Stan and Naomi Loomis, who founded Signature Compounding Pharmacy in 2000 to create customized medications. The article chronicled the unique pharmacy's success.

On Feb. 27, pharmacy staffers Naomi Loomis, Robert Loomis, Kenneth Loomis and Kirk Calvert were arrested after a raid on the company's two Orlando offices following a two-year investigation into a multi-state online drug trafficking ring by the Albany County District Attorney's Office in New York. They were charged with 20 identical criminal counts, including illegally dispensing controlled substances and insurance fraud.

On March 9, media attention surrounding the investigation of Signature Compounding Pharmacy into "drug dealing" charges prompted the Loomis family to issue a press release, which includes the following statement: "physicians must be accountable for their prescriptions."

Next month, Orlando Medical News will report on the full investigation of the case.

Highlights of the pharmacy's press release include:
· Signature Pharmacy is a compounding pharmacy that caters to patients in need, not athletes. Signature Pharmacy operates at two brick-and-mortar buildings in the Orlando area and has 49 employees. Patients filling prescriptions at Signature Pharmacy are primarily women wanting custom blends for estrogen replacement, dialysis patients, children suffering from dwarfism, and baby boomers attempting to combat the effects of aging. In addition, over 300 indigent patients per month have prescriptions filled by Signature Pharmacy at no charge through an Orlando Regional Medical Center program. Like any other pharmacy, Signature Pharmacy only fills patient prescriptions written by physicians. Those physicians are not employees or agents of Signature Pharmacy. Signature Pharmacy has no physicians on staff. A compounding pharmacy differs from a traditional pharmacy in that some of the medications it dispenses are created on the premises from bulk ingredients. These compounded medications are tailored to the specific needs of a patient so as to be more effective or to avoid an unwanted allergic reaction caused by a mass produced medicine. Compounded medications are made to serve the individualized needs of patients pursuant to the directives of the patients' doctors, often at a cost savings to the patient. Testosterone and other male steroid hormone medications account for a very small percentage of Signature Pharmacy's revenues.
· Signature Pharmacy is not an internet pharmacy, as suggested by press reports. The image created is one in which drugs are sold directly to consumers without medical review or supervision. To clarify, the typical internet pharmacy is an online entity that sells prescription drugs to customers who merely fill out a questionnaire and provide payment. Many of these entities exist only in cyberspace. Some of these entities have been the subject of recent investigations and prosecutions. Signature Pharmacy is not such an entity.
· Signature Pharmacy is not a drug dealer. The characterization of Signature Pharmacy as a drug dealer is absurd. Customers who buy drugs from drug dealers intend to commit a crime and so do the dealers. The patients who sought medical treatment from their physicians and were dispensed medications from Signature Pharmacy intended the opposite -- to be fully compliant with the law. Signature Pharmacy intended the same, and took pains to do so. No conduct by Signature Pharmacy is consistent with the conduct of drug dealers. Signature Pharmacy sponsors highly visible expo booths at national medical conventions, openly advertises and markets its medical products to health care professionals, and is licensed by state boards of pharmacy. Signature Pharmacy has done all this and more to establish itself as a preeminent pharmacy in its field with the respect of its peers and a reputation for maintaining the highest standards.
· Physicians must be accountable for their prescriptions. Signature Pharmacy is conscientious about the prescriptions it fills. It takes steps to ensure that all the prescriptions it fills are valid. However, none of the employees or principals of Signature Pharmacy are physicians. Pharmacists are not trained or authorized to diagnose or treat disease. Issues of medical need and the physician-patient relationship are largely beyond the review of pharmacists, although Signature Pharmacy takes steps to ensure that it is satisfied as to these issues. It is not the practice or responsibility of any pharmacy to investigate whether the name of any particular patient corresponds to a competitive athlete. It is absurd to suggest that the staff behind the counter of any retail pharmacy in America would do so. Moreover, while the point may have been lost among today's headlines, there is nothing illegal about filling a prescription for an athlete, whether it is for cortisone or testosterone or a cold remedy. It is the responsibility of the physician to ensure that any medication containing a controlled substance is prescribed for a legitimate medical reason and in the ordinary scope of practice.
· This case is not an "East Coast BALCO." The infamous, headline-grabbing California doping scandal has nothing to do with Signature Pharmacy. BALCO was a business dedicated to improving sports performance in athletes. That was its mission. Signature Pharmacy is a pharmacy dedicated to providing quality medicines pursuant to the valid and lawful prescriptions of medical professionals. Signature Pharmacy does not cater to athletes. In fact, if there are any elite athletes who have ever been dispensed a prescription drug from Signature Pharmacy, they are in a miniscule minority – a possible handful among thousands and thousands of prescriptions. BALCO was all about athletes by design. The mission and design of Signature Pharmacy has nothing to do with athletes, and the overwhelming bulk of Signature Pharmacy's business is unrelated to athletes in any way, shape, or form. The reference to BALCO as applied to Signature Pharmacy is a cheap effort to trade on the public notoriety of that scandal. BALCO was a sad chapter in sports integrity, and Signature Pharmacy does not condone sports cheating in any respect.
· Stan Loomis, Naomi Loomis, Mike Loomis, and Kirk Calvert will be vindicated. We are confident that our clients will be found not guilty because, as stated by Naomi during the Albany County District Attorney's perp walk: we have done nothing wrong. An indictment is only an accusation and a person is presumed innocent unless and until that person is proven guilty. We intend to aggressively and vigorously defend against the baseless accusations and to restore our clients' reputations as hard working and upstanding citizens.