GSK forms community pharmacy support team

GlaxoSmithKline is forming a Community Pharmacy Team to help pharmacists communicate with their patients about chronic diseases and medication adherence.Comprising pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, the team will offer information on medication adherence and vaccines beginning March 28.

“The community pharmacy team will interface with both independent and chain pharmacists, and will provide information and tools or resources that help pharmacists in their interactions with their patients and the appropriate use of medication, primarily adherence,” said David Smithwick, director of pharmacy solutions for GlaxoSmithKline. The pharmaceutical company’s Community Pharmacy Team was established after nearly 2 years of market research with 750 pharmacists from independents and regional and national chains. Members of the Community Pharmacy Team will tailor resources to the chronic illnesses and medications that each drug chain is most interested in.

“We look forward to working with the GSK Community Pharmacy Team to develop innovative and patient-friendly initiatives that we can bring to our members,” said Michael Mastromonica, RPh, assistant vice president of pharmacy for Costco Wholesale. GlaxoSmithKline also worked with patients to “better understand their interest in having more interaction with their pharmacists, particularly around appropriate use of medications,” Smithwick said. “The patients we talked to were very supportive of that. They see pharmacists as the experts on their medications.”

In addition, GlaxoSmithKline’s research found that community pharmacists want to spend more time engaging with their patients, according to David Moules, vice president of channel development and sales for GlaxoSmithKline.