N.Y. drug stores, organizations band together to fight off swine flu

NEW YORK On the ground in New York, where most of the confirmed cases of swine flu have been identified, there has been a surge in purchases of such flu medicines as Roche’s Tamiflu, hand sanitizers and face masks through local New York pharmacies, such as Duane Reade and CVS, especially in Queens, each of the retailers has said.

"As New York's largest drug store, Duane Reade is committed to the health and safety of New Yorkers,” stated Frank Scorpiniti, SVP pharmacy operations at Duane Reade, noting that in particular its 28 locations in Queens have seen increased activity related to the swine flu. “Duane Reade pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers. Our pharmacists are providing information on the prevention, detection and treatment of the flu, and we are increasing our supplies of products associated with this."

CVS has ordered additional doses of Roche’s Tamiflu in anticipation of increased demand, according to published reports.

Meanwhile, Kerr Drug is taking a proactive stance, though the 102-store chain has yet to see any cases of Swine Flu in the Carolinas, said director of marketing Diane Eliezer.

"We've just built an endcap to display things like hand sanitizers, gloves and that sort of thing, with signage to identify it in our stores," Eliezer told Drug Store News.

Meanwhile, Walgreens spokesman Robert Ellfinger said the chain has posted signs in its stores to direct customers to products that could help ward off infection, as well as information at its pharmacies on federal guidelines for minimizing the risk of contact with the disease. "We've instructed our pharmacists to direct patients to the recommendations," he said.

Ellinger also added that the chain has "seen an increase in prescriptions for Tamiflu, but we're not sure what that means yet. We're also seeing increases in products like hand sanitizers."

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has also been actively monitoring swine flu developments, and is proactively disseminating relevant information to its member companies.

“NACDS has been very active since the inception of this potential pandemic … since it was announced last week,” Edith Rosato, NACDS SVP pharmacy affairs, told Drug Store News. “We’ve been in communication with the Department of Homeland Security and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention],” she said, participating in daily conference calls with those organizations around swine flu developments.

“Our role is really to ensure that we get that communication … to our members,” she said. “In any case of an emergency … the important thing is that we continually have supply of medications and consumable products, as well as [over-the-counter] products for any patient that walks into a pharmacy because pharmacies are the first response when it comes to the availability of products.”

Having an outbreak of any kind of influenza-like illness this late in the traditional human influenza season could present a supply-and-demand challenge, however, as chains aren’t typically deep in antiviral inventory at the store level as they may be at the beginning of a season.

On-hand sourcing for flu medicines like Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza, which has also been suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a suitable antiviral in the treatment of this swine flu, may in fact be problematic should there be a significant increase in demand, Laurel Edelman, SDI vice president of clinical accounts, told Drug Store News.

“Traditionally, the flu season will last toward the end of April,” Edelman said.

This year, the flu season peaked relatively late in the season, which would have boded well for having supply on hand in the local pharmacy, but it has been one of the slowest flu seasons on record.

“The idea that Tamiflu should be sitting on the pharmacy shelf at the end of a slow season — I’m not surprised to hear that [pharmacies] may have to wait to get [the medicine] from a distributor,” she said.

To date, there have been no reports of antiviral shortages.

GlaxoSmithKline, which on Monday announced it had supplied Mexico with 170,000 additional doses of Relenza, reported that it is exploring additional production capabilities should the need arise, and is working with the World Health Organization and other national agencies around the manufacture of a vaccine to help prevent this new influenza strain, once a suitable candidate vaccine strain is available from the WHO.

The St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens has been the source of sorts for all of New York City’s swine flu cases — as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, 45 cases of swine flu have been traced to the school. According to the New York City Department of Health, as many as 100 students missed classes a week ago due to an influenza-like illness.

“We believe there were probably more than 100 cases of swine flu at the school, and lab tests are confirming what we have suspected,” announced New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday.

Bloomberg confirmed “there are no other clusters [of swine flu incidence] in the city,”  adding that a six possible cases at a day-care center in the Bronx came back negative for the swine flu.

The St. Francis school has been closed for the remainder of the week, the school announced on its Web site.

“This should provide adequate time for any students who are ill to recover,” the school stated.

All student activities are cancelled and there will be no access to the building during the week.