Pharmacist featured in Alli TV ads

COLUMBIA, S.C. myalli.com and in a national TV commercial.—Cheryl Hartvigsen, pharmacist for South Carolina independent drug chain Long’s Drugs with nine pharmacies—no relation to the West Coast chain, soon to be an official part of CVS/Caremark—not only recommends the use of GlaxoSmithKline’s over-the-counter diet aid Alli to her patients, she’s a success story too, featured on both

Hartvigsen became a grassroots spokeswoman for Alli after posting her success story on myalli.com in fall 2007. By the spring, her post reached the marketing department of GlaxoSmithKline, who asked to feature her story in a TV commercial. “It was November. I had been doing real well with Alli,” she said, “and I went onto the Web site for new menu ideas.” While on the site, she shared her success story on an online blog, thinking that “as a pharmacist, maybe people will listen to me if I say that it works.”

Hartvigsen estimated she counsels between 10 and 15 patients per week who come to her with questions about the OTC diet aid. The biggest question is the treatment effects (gas with oily spotting, loose stools); just how bad are they? “Because I was motivated and conscious about it, I really didn’t have them so bad,” she said. “I always tell [my patients] you just have to be very smart.” Hartvigsen’s personal rule of thumb was to restrict her diet such that only one-third of her daily consumed calories were sourced from fat. “That’s healthy, too. As Americans we eat way too much fat,” she said.

In addition to working as a medicine-adjudicating, patient-counseling behind-the-bench pharmacist, Hartvigsen also performs immunizations for Long’s Drugs and provides bio-identical hormone consultations. It’s to her patients seeking menopausal relief that she makes most of her Alli recommendations, she said. Hormone patients are very receptive to weight loss recommendations, Hartvigsen said, “that’s the main reason they come to you, sometimes.”