The Natural Products Association’s 2025 Fly-in Day focused on a select number of key issues for the industry:
- Expanding access to dietary supplements through HSA/FSA accounts
- Clarifying FDA authority over dietary supplement regulation
- Modernizing the drug preclusion clause to safeguard innovation in dietary supplements
- Explaining the dietary supplement industry’s dependence on China, and strategies for supply chain resilience and reshoring
“Tariffs are first and foremost in the mind of everyone in the industry right now. It’s been chaotic. It’s been confusing,” said Jim Emme, CEO of NOW Foods and chair of NPA’s Board of Directors. “Today, we were trying to convince congressional staff to help us out when the time comes—from when the White House enquires about it to the reps and senators about what else should be on that list and where the pain points are.”
“Everyone was talking about tariffs,” said Dr. Daniel Fabricant, NPA president and CEO. “That’s the big issue right now […], but the other issues are still present. FSA, HSA, are still present. The issues with FDA authority are present, whether it’s with the state issues, and how do we deal with all the state conflicts right now: 17 states we’re up to [that have introduced bills to restrict access to specific classes of dietary supplements], which is a lot, as well as drug preclusion. So, a lot is going to happen.”
NPA’s annual Fly-in Day focuses on visiting congressional offices. Emme noted that members of the NPA board had a meeting at the White House on May 7 with senior staff.
“The White House does recognize that there are a lot of synergies between our industry and the goals of MAHA and because of that, they are very, very important,” he said. “And the work of NPA leadership—Dr. Fabricant and Kyle Turk and building the relationships with White House staff, we had a serious seat at the table, and the questions they were asking were good questions. Did we walk away with definitive answers on tariffs? No, but we didn’t on March 11 either. It took three weeks for that to happen, and that’ll probably be the cycle that takes place.”
NPA considered the day to be a success, but Dr. Fabricant noted that these meetings are just the start of the conversation.
“This has to be a continual thing on everyone’s calendars,” he said. “I think people see with the tariffs [and understand that] government can change your business pretty quickly. That’s the point. And you don’t just build those relationships overnight. We always have to pay attention. Government can affect your business faster than anything, and that’s really the message, and that’s why it’s so important.”