2026 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 National P&T Competition is a team event. P&T Competition teams work together as if preparing for—and presenting to—a mock P&T Committee. 

All student pharmacists seeking to participate in the National P&T Competition are expected to have a thorough knowledge of all competition deadlines, rules, requirements, and procedures.

AMCP Foundation encourages all interested students and Advisors to download and read the current Guide to the P&T Competition.

AMCP Foundation communicates important P&T Competition news and information primarily via an email newsletter. The newsletter is sent on an approximately weekly basis beginning in September.

Sign Up for the P&T Competition Newsletter

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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., the Case Study and Team Assignments document and the monograph template) to all competing teams and keeping them informed about P&T Competition news.

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

Importantly, the student Competition Coordinator is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the school’s complete entry to the National P&T Competition is uploaded to the online portal by the stated entry deadline.

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 is generally 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 should ideally include students from different years of the pharmacy curriculum.

Teams may compete with fewer than four members, but this is not optimal or recommended.

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

Each team should consider designating a captain responsible for meeting all competition deadlines.

AMCP Foundation encourages all students interested in the P&T Competition to join AMCP as a Student Pharmacist member to gain access to valuable resources. All team members entering the National P&T Competition must be active (paid) AMCP Student Pharmacist members.  

Additional information about P&T Competition teams is provided in the Guide to the P&T Competition (see Resources section).

Each accredited pharmacy school/college may enter only one team into the national competition. If more than one team is interested in competing, the school 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. Schools are free to conduct local competitions in any way that best uses available resources and accommodates all interested student pharmacists.

A popular approach is to mimic the format of the National P&T Competition by having teams submit a written drug monograph in advance of a live (in-person or virtual) mock P&T Committee presentation supported by PowerPoint slides.

AMCP Foundation provides judging criteria in the form of scoring matrixes to all student Competition Coordinators and P&T Competition Advisors as part of the official competition materials. Schools are free to modify these criteria as desired for local competitions. Many schools choose to use the judging criteria as provided because they reflect the criteria used for the national competition.

Consult the How to Conduct a Local P&T Competition Guide from AMCP's Student Pharmacist Committee for additional insight.

Registering the intention to compete involves creating a single school account in the P&T Competition online portal and providing contact information for the school’s student Competition Coordinator, AMCP Student Pharmacist Chapter President (if applicable), and Advisor(s).

Schools should register their intention to compete even if they are unsure whether they will submit an entry to the National P&T Competition. There is no penalty for schools that ultimately decide not to enter.

Step-by-step instructions for creating a school account and registering the intention to compete are provided via the P&T Competition newsletter and posted in the Resources section (below) at the time the portal opens.

Sign Up for the P&T Competition Newsletter

To gain access to the eDossier for the P&T Competition study drug, student pharmacists participating on P&T Competition teams must create an individual account with FormularyDecisions® (Academia version). Advisors also are eligible to create individual accounts.

Step-by-step instructions for creating an individual account with FormularyDecisions are provided via the P&T Competition newsletter and posted in the Resources section (below) when registration opens.

Sign Up for the P&T Competition Newsletter

The P&T Competition case study, team assignments, and judging criteria are shared with the Competition Coordinator and primary Advisor at each participating pharmacy school/college. The Competition Coordinator is responsible for accessing and downloading the case study and all associated materials and sharing them with all participating teams.

Questions from individual teams or team members must be funneled through the Competition Coordinator or Advisor. Individual teams or team members are not permitted to contact AMCP Foundation directly.

Responses to questions must be shared with all teams and team members, so as not to advantage or disadvantage any one team.

The deadline for national competition entries is January 19, 2026.

Instructions for preparing your entry are provided in the P&T Competition Case Study and Team Assignments document. Be sure to follow these instructions carefully.

Specific instructions for uploading your school’s entry to the P&T Competition online portal will be provided to Competition Coordinators and Advisors.

Entry Phase judging takes place January 23, 2026 to February 2, 2026. The teams that will advance to the Semi-Finals round will be announced no later than Monday, February 9, 2026.