2021 P&T Competition

The AMCP Foundation National Student Pharmacist Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Competition is designed to provide an immersive experience in the skills necessary for effective formulary review and management.

The P&T Competition is a team event. The ideal team has four members in different years of the pharmacy curriculum.

P&T Competition teams work together as if they are preparing for—and presenting to—a mock P&T Committee meeting. Case study assignments typically include (1) a written evaluation of the competition drug (“drug monograph”) that includes recommendations for formulary placement and (2) an oral presentation supported by PowerPoint slides.

Each pharmacy school/college may enter one team into the national competition. If more than one team is interested in competing, a single team must be selected (typically the winner of a local competition).

During the national competition semi-final round, national judges appointed by the AMCP Foundation evaluate and score the assignments submitted by each team. The teams with the highest scores advance to the final round of competition.

Through the generosity of the P&T Competition funding partners, the AMCP Foundation may extend honoraria to each national finalist team and/or the winning teams. However, awarding of honoraria is not guaranteed.

All competing team members are expected to have a working knowledge of all deadlines, rules and requirements, and procedures for the P&T Competition.

The AMCP Student Pharmacist Committee maintains resources for AMCP Student Chapters and several pertain to the P&T Competition (for example, E-Board toolbox, pages 12-16).

AMCP Foundation communicates important P&T Competition news and information primarily via an email newsletter. The newsletter is free and available to any student, faculty member, or other interested party.

Subscribe to the newsletter via this link.

Each pharmacy school/college must designate one student Competition Coordinator to serve as the primary contact person for all competing teams at the pharmacy school/college.

The student Competition Coordinator is responsible for disseminating important P&T Competition materials (e.g., Case Study and Team Assignments document, monograph template) to all competing teams and keeping teams informed about P&T Competition news.

The student Competition Coordinator also is responsible for forwarding questions from individual teams or team members to the AMCP Foundation. Responses to questions must be shared with all teams and team members, so as not to advantage or disadvantage any one team.

If a pharmacy school/college has more than one campus, the student Competition Coordinator at the main campus (usually also the home of the official AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapter) will serve as the primary liaison between AMCP and all competing teams on all campuses affiliated with the pharmacy school/college. It may be helpful to designate Assistant Competition Coordinators on each campus to coordinate communication among campuses.

It is permissible for Competition Coordinators to be members of P&T Competition teams.

AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapters are encouraged to place Competition Coordinators on their Executive Boards along with President, Vice President, etc.

Each pharmacy school/college must designate at least one P&T Competition Advisor. 

The Advisor for the P&T Competition typically is the AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapter Faculty Advisor or another faculty member. It is permissible to have a competition Advisor who is not an employee of the pharmacy school/college; however, some institutional affiliation generally is helpful.

The Advisor for the P&T Competition is not required to be an AMCP member.

P&T Competition teams usually are composed of four (4) student pharmacists. Teams may compete with fewer than four members, but this is not optimal or recommended.

One (1) additional student may serve as an “alternate” in case any of the official team members are unable to compete for any reason.

Teams ideally should be composed of students in different years of the pharmacy curriculum (i.e., P1, P2, P3, P4).

P&T Competition team members must be enrolled full-time in a Doctor of Pharmacy program at a school or college of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Dual-degree enrollment (e.g., PharmD/MBA) is permissible.

Students enrolled only in programs other than a Doctor of Pharmacy program—for example, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, or PhD programs—are not eligible to compete.

Residents and fellows are not eligible to compete.

All team members must be active national AMCP Student Pharmacist Members! Be sure everyone is signed up before the competition begins.

Each team should designate a captain who will be responsible for ensuring that all competition deadlines are met.

Each pharmacy school/college may enter only one team into the national competition. If more than one team is interested in competing, you must decide on a single team. Many schools conduct a local competition to determine a single winning team.

AMCP Foundation is not involved in any way in local competitions, and there is no requirement to conduct a local competition. Whether and how local competitions are conducted is entirely up to the individual pharmacy school/college, with consideration of available resources and ability to manage the competition.

If an AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapter serves multiple campuses of a pharmacy school/college, the school still may enter only one team into the national competition. In this situation, chapters may hold local competitions on each campus, then ask judges to determine an overall winner (for example, based on written assignments).

How to Conduct a Local Competition

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, changes to usual P&T Competition procedures may be needed. Please note that schools can conduct local competitions in any way that makes the best use of available resources and accommodates all interested student pharmacists. 

In typical years, many schools choose to mimic the format of the national competition by having teams submit written assignments and make a mock P&T Committee presentation at a live event. If you choose to follow the format of the national competition, establish a deadline by which all competing teams must submit written competition assignments to local judges. This deadline should be at least 1 week before the date of the live local competition presentations.

During the national competition, each team would be allotted 60 minutes for the mock P&T Committee presentation. This encompasses 5 minutes for set-up, a maximum of 20 minutes for the presentation, 25 minutes for judges to pose questions to the team and provide feedback, and 10 minutes for wrap-up/transition to the next team.

View the How to Conduct a Local P&T Competition Guide from AMCP's Student Pharmacist Committee for additional insight. Chapters with multiple campuses or a very large number of teams also may consider conducting more than one round of the local competition.

Judges for Local Competitions

We recommend that schools recruit at least two faculty members or managed care professionals that reflect a balance of judging experience (both new and seasoned judges) and a variety of practice areas (e.g., academia, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans).

Possible sources of judges include your pharmacy school/college alumni network and past speakers at AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapter events. Since most P&T Committee members are physicians, consider asking local physicians or medical students to serve as judges!

We strongly discourage recruiting judges employed in the pharmaceutical industry. Due to confidentiality considerations, employees of biopharmaceutical companies are not permitted to access the manufacturer dossier for the drug under study.

Consider recruiting at least one alternate judge, in the event someone needs to drop out unexpectedly.

Judging Criteria

AMCP Foundation will distribute judging criteria to all student Competition Coordinators and P&T Competition Advisors as part of the official competition materials. You are free to modify these criteria as desired for local competitions. Most schools choose to use the judging criteria as provided, because they reflect the criteria used for the national competition.

All competition materials, including the case study and judging criteria, should be shared with the local judges. Judges also may register online for access to the manufacturer dossier for the drug under study.