Wednesday is here! Your weekly bites are as tasty as ever.

This week, we finally decided to sit down with Pharma bro (known as HS), where we discussed advantages of local pharmacies and the disadvantage of their disappearance.

His answers were so thoughtful that we’ve left them unedited and highlighted the good stuff.

Interview with HS

HS is a pharmacist by trade but has deep experience working across the biotech and life sciences space. We usually rely on him for 2 things:

1. Getting a pulse on the intersection between drug affordability and healthcare market dynamics.

2. Understanding how a drug goes from discovery to approval

Are there public health implications of local pharmacies going out of business and being replaced by big pharma chains?

Patients may be less trusting of pharmacists working for big chains than those working in smaller chain pharmacies, especially in suburban/rural parts of America. Think of this, corner pharmacies were once widespread in large cities and rural hamlets alike, but are now disappearing from many areas of the country, leaving an estimated 41 million Americans in what are known as drugstore deserts, without easy access to pharmacies altogether.

According to GoodRx, an online drug price comparison tool, 12% of Americans have to drive more than 15 minutes to reach the closest pharmacy or don’t have enough pharmacies nearby to meet demand.  

These people have been historically neglected by the U.S. health care system and often trust independent pharmacies over bigger chains. The independent pharmacists are from the community they serve and employ staffers that are, for example, bilingual to deliver culturally competent care to patients. When closing a pharmacy, it means closing an epicenter that provides access to lifesaving medications, contraceptives, and vaccines. 

Anecdotally, the big chain storefront that establishes itself in a drugstore desert will have no driver to be efficient - this means longer wait times, less medicines readily in stock, and shorter hours of operations. 

Is there anything local pharmacies can do in a drug-related/medical aspect to gain an edge where big pharma chains are at a disadvantage?

Community pharmacies could potentially focus on individualized patient care, like pill boxes and pill packs, to up their game against big name pharmacies. While some the chains and some mail orders do provide these services, they’re somewhat unorganized and lack follow up. The pharmacists are unable to provide personalized care for patients, change medications in pill packs or provide consultations after the pill packs are provided. Big chains do not have the time or resources to provide services like this. 

Speak to any community health aspects when thinking about local vs national pharmacies

National pharmacies can serve different communities, but do not understand the nuances in many local areas. One major issues in understanding local insurance plans including state Medicaid. Each state’s Medicaid differs significantly and it is difficult for a national chain to understand all of those differences. Local pharmacies are able to provide their communities benefiting from state programs with the support they need from state programs. For example in NH, many patients don’t have prescription insurance. But there is a program called NH ADAP that allows patients with HIV to get their HIV medications for free without copay.

Speak to general innovations any innovations that are happening in brick-and-mortar pharmacies

Many chain pharmacies are attempting to implement more clinical pharmacy programs, such as medication therapy management, into their every day practices. They are hoping that this will increase their clinical impact and help to catch medication therapy problems rather than just serve as filling pharmacies who refrain from more impactful clinical interventions. These pharmacies are attempting to hire clinical pharmacists in addition to their standard operational pharmacists to fulfill these roles.

What AI Made This Week

Sick Fits by Ahmed

Back in the mid 2000’s, there were a few companies that really captured menswear. Like…really captured it.

Band of Outsiders was started by Scott Sternberg. Aside from incredibly fresh marketing at the time, every piece was designed to give ‘effortless’ vibes.

Scott is and always will be a top 5 style king.

Have a great week!

Ahmed and Peter