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Health Care—StatScript/Fifth Avenue Pharmacy in Hillcrest caters to a select clientele HIV-infected patients



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Late last month, StatScript/Fifth Avenue Pharmacy in Hillcrest reopened with a fresh new look and touting new services to its primary clientele , HIV-infected patients.

StatScript Pharmacy is promoted as stocking a full line of HIV drugs and related medications, providing nutritional needs, assisting with insurance paperwork and offering mail service and free delivery.

A new pharma phenomenon? Not quite. StatScript is one of several pharmacies in town marketing drugs and services to HIV-infected patients and others suffering from AIDS.

Among the others are Priority Pharmacy in Hillcrest, Community Medical Pharmacy in Chula Vista, Galloway Pharmacy in San Diego and Nudo’s Pharmacy in El Cajon, according to the local HIV/AIDS awareness organization Being Alive.

The proliferation of such pharmacies here and elsewhere is no accident. The arrival of breakthrough drug combinations has made it possible for HIV-infected patients to manage their disease and help prolong their life expectancy for years. While the number of new HIV-infected cases in San Diego and elsewhere have dropped sharply in recent years, new cases continue to be identified every day, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

In San Diego, there are 10,444 reported AIDS cases as of Aug. 31, according to a recent survey by the agency.

Analyzing The Market

The majority, 76 percent , are homosexual men. Gay men who inject drugs rank second; intravenous drug users are third; and heterosexuals are fourth on the list, the agency reported.

Wes Anderson, StatScript Pharmacy’s regional manager for the West Coast, said such statistics are vital, pointing to market opportunities.

A viable market is a clientele of 250 and 300 HIV-infected patients that visit the StatScript store regularly, he said.

Hillcrest fits the required demographics, he said. StatScript’s Minnetonka, Minn.-based parent company, Chronimed Inc., bought privately held Fifth Avenue Pharmacy in February 1999. The acquisition was followed with an ad campaign in Hillcrest’s gay and lesbian newspapers, he said.

Last week’s official reopening of the first and only StatScript pharmacy in town was to celebrate something special, Andersen said.

“HIV patients haven’t been treated well in larger stores,” he said citing reasons of prejudice and a lack of stored medications.

Longtime Service

A representative of a Hillcrest-based pharmacy, which has been serving local HIV-patients for more than two decades, had a different view.

“(StatScript) is a nice-looking store, but that doesn’t make the service (better),” said Stepher Potter, marketing director for Priority Pharmacy.

Potter noted Priority was the first pharmacy in San Diego to fill an HIV prescription. He added the pharmacy remains dedicated to HIV-patients. He said more than 10 people are on hand to serve patients. The store offers mail service, free delivery of drugs and a free Internet-based service that pages or calls patients to remind them it’s time to take their medication, he said.

Robbie Georges, a peer counselor at Being Alive, said pharmacies that are close to patients and stocked with an ample assortment of AIDS drugs and other medications associated with the disease are critical.

“Many patients don’t have cars and are unable to work or are on government assistance programs,” Georges said. “We don’t tell (patients) where to go (to buy their medication), but most patients look for a pharmacy that is close to them.”

Under the StatScript business model, specialty pharmacies will be expanding soon in concentrated areas of AIDS patients.

The firm plans to open stores in Portland, Ore., Newport Beach and Palm Springs. A Chronimed official declined to say how much revenue the Hillcrest store brought in since it was bought in February 1999, but he said business is growing.

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