ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association cheered Senate passage of a measure allowing small businesses that receive emergency loans under the Paycheck Protection Program up to two years to qualify for forgiveness.

Doug Hoey

“This is an important victory for local pharmacies that are trying to position their businesses as part of the economic recovery even as they battle the pandemic,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey.

The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, which sailed through the House last week, extends the term for the forgiveness of emergency loans to 24 weeks (originally 8 weeks) or until the end of the calendar year. It allows for five years to repay any money owed, and it reduces from 75 percent to 60 percent the amount that must be used for payroll. NCPA pushed hard to include independent pharmacies in the original PPP and it strongly supports the measure that passed today, and which is now on the way to the president for his signature.

A recent NCPA survey showed that 96 percent of independent pharmacies applied for the PPP loans, and that 99 percent of those who applied received funding.