Welcome to the website of the Office of Professional and Financial Regulation, an agency within the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. We appreciate your visit to our homepage and we look forward to assisting you.
Although our building in Gardiner, Maine is not open to the public due to the COVID-19 health emergency, our staff remains available to resolve your complaints, answer your questions, and continue to deliver high-quality services to consumers and regulated industries.
Please contact us by email or by phone or through our other online services, and we will assist you. Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you.
The staff of the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation
FREE Webinar Friday April 16, 2021 at 10am on COVID Relief Resources, US Small Business Administration's Maine District Office and the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.
Purpose
The Board of Pharmacy was established to protect the public through the regulation of pharmacies and pharmacists in Maine.
The primary responsibilities of the Board are to examine and license qualified applicants for licensure in the categories of Pharmacists or Pharmacists Assistants; to regulate and control the sale, character and standards of all drugs, poisons or medicines; to inspect during business hours all apothecaries, dispensaries, and locations where pharmaceuticals are manufactured, stored, distributed, compounded, dispersed or retailed; to secure samples of drugs and cause them to be analyzed and to keep a record of all persons examined and registered. The Board also investigates complaints against licensees and takes appropriate disciplinary action.
Notice Regarding License Verification Requests (PDF)
Effective March 1, 2019, the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (OPOR) will no longer issue paper license verifications. License verifications are available, free of charge, on OPOR’s official database, https://www.pfr.maine.gov/ALMSOnline/ALMSQuery/Welcome.aspx?board=4380. This database is updated in real time as changes occur. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation considers this information to be a secure, primary source for license verification.
Are You a Mandated Reporter?
Maine law requires that medical, mental health and social services personnel immediately report or cause a report to be made to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) when the provider knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that an incapacitated or dependent adult has been or is likely to be abused or neglected or that a suspicious incapacitated or dependent adult death has occurred.
Future correspondence from the Board of Pharmacy will be sent to you by email, so please be sure to keep your contact information current. Follow this link to verify your contact information.
What's New
Practice Outreach Communication (PDF)
- Accessible Drug Labeling Best Practices For Visually Impaired, February 4, 2021
- Labels-See-to-My-Safety-Fact-Sheet
Policy on Veterans Preference
Laws/Statutory
New Laws Take Effect September 19, 2019
Public Law Chapter 454 (LD 37) An Act To Allow for the Sale of Nonprescription Drugs through Vending Machines
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP0038&item=3&snum=129 (PDF)
Public Law Chapter 34 (LD 659) An Act Regarding the Use of Interchangeable Biological Products
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum=129&paper=&paperld=l&ld=659
Link to the FDA list of biological products
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/therapeutic-biologics-applications-bla/purple-book-lists-licensed-biological-products-reference-product-exclusivity-and-biosimilarity-or From this website you may also access the Guidance for Industry, Reference Product Exclusivity for Biological Products Filed Under Section 351(a) of the PHS Act.
Public Law Chapter 165 (LD 1025) An Act To Prohibit the Provision of Conversion Therapy to Minors by Certain Licensed Professionals
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum=129&paper=&paperld=l&ld=1025
See Sections 27, 28, 29, and 30
Public Law Chapter 503, Part A (LD 1746)
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0580&item=8&snum=129 (PDF)
Brief Summary: Expands grounds for discipline to include failure to provide to a patient, upon written request, a copy of that patient's treatment records within a reasonable amount of time as may be determined by the applicable board.
Rulemaking
Notice of Agency Rulemaking Proposal, Chapter 36 Licensure of Opioid Treatment Programs (PDF)
Emergency Rule - Chapter 36 Licensure for Opioid Treatment Programs, Adopted, April 4, 2020 (PDF). Note: The application for nurses to apply for a pharmacy technician license (PDF) is available online.
Current Important Notices/Reminders
- Urgent and Important Message - Manufacturers of Opioid Medication and Opioid Product Registration (PDF)
- Training Announcement for Businesses, Schools, Religious Institutions, Government Agencies, and First Responders (PDF)
- Advisory Ruling - Time Limitations for Controlled Substance Prescriptions - 4-6-2017 (PDF)
- DHHS - PMP Update - Important message from Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (PDF)
- Bureau of Insurance, Bulletin 377 - Any Willing Pharmacy
- Message from Attorney General Janet T. Mills on heroin and opioid abuse in Maine (PDF)
- Policy statement regarding licensure of Retail Suppliers of Prescription Medical Devices (PDF)
Older Important Notices/Reminders
- ME Board of Pharmacy Statement of Concern on Personal Importation of Prescription Drugs from International Mail Order Prescription Pharmacies (PDF)
- Memorandum-Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Program (April 5, 2013) (PDF)
- Memorandum-Compounding for Office Use (April 5, 2013) (PDF)
- Notice to Maine licensed pharmacies on reporting prescription monitoring information from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHS). (PDF)
- Guidance Notice 4/10/2012 (PDF) - rule and law change affecting pharmacy interns.