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Jul 23, 2008 10:45 pm US/Central

Specialty Pharmacy Opens In Mpls. For HIV Patients

Reporting
Heather Brown
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― The number of Minnesotans diagnosed with HIV keeps going up. Just last year, 325 new infections were reported in Minnesota, which is the highest number of newly reported cases since 1995, according to the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP).
Lorraine Teel, executive director of MAP, said the new cases are younger and older people.

 "The older people are tired of the safer sex message and they thought they dodged the bullet.  The younger people were never really educated about HIV," she said.

 Along with more cases have come better drugs, further increasing the number of HIV patients living in the Twin Cities too. Sixty percent of the patients that see infectious disease specialist Dr. Frank Rhame are HIV-positive. He said some of the people he sees are healthy on just one pill a day.

 "People are continuing to get infected and they're not dying," he said. "So, we're caring for more and more people than ever because people don't die but they keep getting infected."

 Steve Wolfgram was diagnosed in a hospital 12 years ago because he was so sick at the time.  Now he exercises, feels good and takes only three pills a day. Doctors tell him his prognosis is good.

 It's people like Wolfgram that caused Walgreens to open up a specialty pharmacy in Minneapolis for patients with HIV/AIDS. The pharmacy chain operates at least 35 similar stores in other states. The Uptown store is the first in Minneapolis.

 The store is tucked away next to Rhame's office on the second floor. About half the customers are HIV-positive and most are Rhame's patients. Both the store and the doctor said the arrangement offers better communication for the patient.

 "I think it's an improvement. It's a luxury. It's a better way to do it than we previously have but we'd manage without it," according to Rhame.
Anyone can buy from the store. It offers all the medications a customer would find at any regular Walgreens store. The Uptown pharmacy is only two aisles and does not sell things like laundry detergent or greeting cards. The idea is to cut down on traffic to make more time for the patient. The pharmacists are specially trained for private counseling.

 "These patients are on a complex set of medications. With those medications, there's a lot of side effects and drug interactions, so you really need someone who knows what they're doing to help this patient," said pharmacy manager Mike Lowe. "Then they get better care and are more involved in their own care and more likely to take their medications."

 Wolfgram said that's the most important thing he tells other HIV positive patients he counsels at the MN AIDS Project -- to take their medication. Without insurance, his pills would cost $2,700 a month.  He pays a $150 a month co-pay -- the price that will keep going for what many expect to be a long time.

 "I have every intention of retiring and buying a place in Mexico," he said.

 

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.