Hospitals turn to LR pharmacy in wake of steroid deaths

Sunday, January 13, 2013

— A “tremendous amount” of hospitals nationwide have turned to Cantrell Drug Co. for their injectable steroids, the owner of the Little Rock pharmacy says.

This increase in business is a result of about 650 people sickened and approximately 40 deaths around the country from fungal meningitis linked to contaminated injectable steroids made by two Massachusetts compounding companies, says Cantrell Drug owner Dell McCarley.

One hundred and fifty to 200 hospitals have contacted Cantrell Drug since the outbreak, McCarley said.

Cantrell Drug, a compounding pharmacy, added 21 employees in the fourth quarter after news surfaced in late September about the bad drugs made by Framingham, Mass.-based New England Compounding Center, but more particularly its sister company, Ameridose, McCarley says.

Cantrell Drug, at 7524 Cantrell Road, currently needs 12 additional pharmacy technicians, McCarley says. After the current openings are filled, there will be a need for two or three more pharmacists, he added.

The company, which now has 70 employees, moved into its quarters in March 2010 with 18 employees, says McCarley, who, with his wife, Lynn,bought the business from her father, John Honea, in 1992. Honea established it as a retail drugstore in 1960.

The injectable steroid is difficult to make, so Cantrell Drug uses a preservative as a safety net to prevent contamination, McCarley says. New England Compounding did not use a preservative, he says. It and Ameridose were shut down last fall and a recall was issued.

Injectable steroids are used primarily for relief from neck and back pain.

Cantrell Drug is one of the few compounders in the country that has a staff quality control specialist, rather than a pharmacist, McCarley says. It is the only compounder in the state registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he says.

Also fueling Cantrell Drug’s expansion is the ongoing inability of major drug manufacturers to maintain sufficient output for hospitals, McCarley says.

He says he is concerned that a possible overreaction to the crisis spawned by the distribution of contaminated steroids could make the supply situation worse.

The Little Rock Board of Adjustment has approved a plan for a restaurant in the 310 Main St. building that is part of the Mann on Main project.

The plan calls for a raised open-air dining area with metal railing extending 7 feet into the sidewalk.

Jimmy Moses, who is a partner in Mann on Main, said “two groups” are under consideration and he expects to makean announcement sometime in the next 30 days.

The plan filed with the city calls for space for 26 diners outside and 70 inside.

The Mann on Main is a mixed-use project announced in March by Moses Tucker Real Estate and the Doyle Rogers Co. that encompasses the historic seven-story Blass Department Store building at 314 Main. Nearly all of the office space has been leased to governmental agencies. Apartment lofts will also be offered.

The restaurant would be part of the three-story annex and the first commercial space leased. The entire $20 million project is expected to be completed this summer.

The restaurant is across the street from Montego Cafe, which opened at Thanksgiving. That building was converted by Reed Realty Advisors of Portland, Ore.

The city planning staff said the proposed restaurant expansion into the street does not appear to clash with Main Street Creative Corridor plan on the drawing board.

The corridor plan, unveiled by the city in September, calls for integrated living and commercial spaces tied together with street scaping, specifically pedestrian alleys or landscaped promenades in the 300-600 blocks of Main Street.

In a related matter, an announcement is expected soon on “commercial” tenants on the other end of the corridor, in the 500 block, home of the Main Street Lofts. Toxic materials, such as asbestos, are being removed from the four historic buildings in the block, with construction expected to start soon. Scott Reed of Reed Realty and two partners are developing the lofts project.

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Business, Pages 63 on 01/13/2013