A disciplinary hearing against an Auburn pharmacist who tested nearly 6,000 people for COVID antibodies early in the pandemic will move forward. An appeals court this week ruled that federal protections shouldn’t stop the state’s case against the pharmacist.

Lisa Leonard, a pharmacist who co-owns the Drug Store in Auburn, asked federal courts to stop a 2021 hearing by the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy. She claimed that the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act shielded her because she was providing pandemic testing.

Leonard began offering antibody tests at the end of April 2020 and tested more than 5,900 people by September, according to court documents. Officials with the Alabama Board of Pharmacy accused Leonard of misrepresenting the value of the antibody tests, improperly disposing of used needles and failing to use personal protective equipment. Leonard argued that the federal PREP Act, which protects providers and vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits during public health emergencies, should block the state’s action.

However, on March 3, judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Court ruled that Leonard could make her case for PREP protection during the disciplinary hearing and dismissed her case.

“Leonard’s claims of federal preemption and immunity can be raised both before the Board itself and in Alabama state court,” the opinion said.

It is not Leonard’s first run-in with the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy. In 2006, the board imposed $9,000 in fines and five years’ license probation on Leonard and her husband in a case that involved dispensing drugs without valid prescriptions.

The investigation in the 2006 case became extremely heated. According to court documents, the Leonards called the police on an investigator for the board of pharmacy. Leonard claimed board investigator Glenn Wells pulled a gun on her, although Wells denied doing it. He was also involved in the COVID testing investigation, which Leonard claimed was improper.

Leonard also alleged the 2020 COVID test investigation began when another Auburn-area pharmacist lodged a complaint with the board. The complainant worked for a pharmacy that also offered COVID antibody tests and wanted to limit competition from the Drug Store, court documents said.

“The plaintiffs allege that the Board’s intent in bringing the charges and pursuing the hearing is to drive the plaintiffs out of the market to allow ‘favored entities’ to absorb The Drug Store’s market share,” the lawsuit said. “They also allege that the Board’s charges have anticompetitive effects on the market by reducing citizens’ access to COVID-19 antibody testing, decreasing access to information, and decreasing the availability of antibody testing, which increases the cost.”

The Drug Store offered rapid antibody tests from Healgen Scientific. Antibody tests can detect past infections of COVID-19 but are not used for diagnosis. Providers typically use antigen or PCR tests to diagnose COVID-19 while it is contagious. Board staff alleged workers at the Drug Store misrepresented the results of antibody tests as diagnostic.

A pharmacist with East Alabama Medical Center reached out to the board of pharmacy after patients called confused about the results of the Drug Store’s antibody tests, the lawsuit said. On Sept. 4, 2020, staff at the Drug Store stopped doing COVID-19 antibody tests because of “intimidation, threatening actions, and bullying” by board investigators.

Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals found that the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy has enough safeguards in place to provide a fair hearing in Leonard’s case. Although PREP provides protection from lawsuits, it doesn’t prevent the board of pharmacy from taking civil enforcement actions, judges found.

Leonard’s hearing before the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy was scheduled for 2021 but had been on hold during the federal proceedings.