HIV TESTING IN YOUR HOME : BUY THE KITS IN PHARMACIES BY MAIL ORDER OR 800 CALLS.Byline: Dana Canedy The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times At a Rite Aid Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) is a United States retailer and pharmacy chain, operating over 5,000 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains. drugstore in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. recently, a man handed the pharmacist pharmacist /phar·ma·cist/ (fahr´mah-sist) one who is licensed to prepare and sell or dispense drugs and compounds, and to make up prescriptions. phar·ma·cist n. a slip of paper he had torn from a pad hanging next to the condoms. After the pharmacy section cleared out, she gave him a bag with a home HIV test HIV test Various tests have been used to detect HIV and production of antibodies thereto; some HTs shown below are no longer actively used, but are listed for completeness and context. See HIV, Immunoblot. inside. ``I wouldn't do it with all these people in there,'' said the pharmacist, Linda Lee Linda Lee may refer to:
A device used in smoking cessation Side effects Transient burning, itching–50%, erythema–14%; contact hypersensitivity–2.4%. See Nicotine replacement therapy. and reading glasses. At a Walgreen in Chicago, many customers are unsure how to use the kits. The pharmacist, Barbara Donoval, spends a fair amount of time walking them through the procedure. In Queens, N.Y., girls as young as 15 have been coming to a Rite Aid for weeks to buy the tests in groups, and heterosexual and gay couples have been purchasing two so they can test themselves together. ``The biggest thing people say is they have such peace of mind now,'' said Leonard Humel, pharmacist at the Queens store, where the kits are selling out as fast as he can replace them. After a decade of being rebuffed by the Food and Drug Administration, two companies got approval last summer to sell the tests, entering the marketplace just as promising new drugs are prompting more people than ever to be tested for the virus that causes AIDS. But the birth of this market has been anything but smooth. The manufacturers, Home Access Health, a fledgling one-product operation, and Direct Access Diagnostics, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, are still grappling with just how to navigate the sexual and interest group politics of selling a product that many customers must work up the courage to buy and could easily be pitched to people's worst fears. With, say, home pregnancy tests pregnancy test Any test used to detect or confirm pregnancy; in early pregnancy, all PTs measure hCG, the developing placenta's principal hormone, which is detectable as early as 6 days after fertilization; in clinical laboratories, serum levels of hCG are , the market is well defined, but the makers of home HIV tests are simultaneously selling to gay men, teen-agers and heterosexual adults, who each bring different attitudes about AIDS to the drug counter and are likely to respond to different marketing. The challenge is evident in ads for the kits, some of which are sexually provocative by design and have drawn fire from AIDS advocacy Main article: HIV and AIDS misconceptions Patient Zero theory Some advocates hold that the disease was introduced by a flight attendant named Gaetan Dugas, referred to as "Patient Zero". Other advocates argue that there were cases of AIDS much earlier than initially known. groups for being simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple or for trivializing concerns about disclosing HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. status to sexual partners. The kits are being advertised in youth-oriented publications like Rolling Stone rolling stone Noun a restless or wandering person , gay-oriented magazines like Poz and The Advocate, magazines like Essence and Jet that are read predominantly by blacks and Spanish-language magazines, as well. As great a sales challenge is the fact that the tests are costly, more than some visits to a doctor or clinic. A kit called Confide, from Direct Access, costs $35 to $40 in most pharmacies, and $49.95 mail order. It also can be ordered by calling (800) 843-8378. Home Access kits are available in some Walgreen and Sav-on stores on the West Coast for $39.95, or for $49.95 by mail by calling (800) 448-8378. But for many people, a desire for secrecy outweighs price. ``Gay men have probably been exposed to testing before,'' said Dave Mulryan of the Mulryan Nash agency in New York, which created ads aimed at gay men for Home Access. ``For them, convenience, time and price may be an issue, whereas the teen market may be afraid to go to the doctor or that their parents may find out. Anonymity may be an issue for heterosexual men.'' Home HIV tests were developed in the mid-1980s, but faced fierce opposition from the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. and some AIDS organizations and health care agencies. The agency cited a host of concerns, including the issue of whether there should be phone counseling for those who test positive. Other concerns involved the accuracy of the tests and confidentiality. This year - after intensive lobbying by manufacturers and mounting evidence that the tests' benefits outweigh the risks - the FDA reversed its position. With the approval, the companies are facing renewed opposition from critics of home testing - especially about marketing and counseling. There is also great uncertainty about how big the market is. ``There is absolutely no accurate model to predict sales of a service like this,'' said Arisa Cunningham, director of marketing for Direct Access. ``We need a few more months of experience under our belt.'' At Home Access, which has much more riding on the test than its giant competitor, ``we are making up the rules as we go along,'' said Richard Quattrocchi, the president. ``It is a very intimate and personal purchase, and a service like this has never been offered before, so there is an acceptance curve.'' Yet with analysts estimating that home HIV tests will grow into a $100 million to $200 million market within five years, both companies are racing to grab market share, particularly with two other companies awaiting FDA approval of their kits, including one that tests saliva saliva Thick, colourless fluid constantly present in the mouth, composed of water, mucus, proteins, mineral salts, and amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starches. One to two litres are produced daily by the salivary glands. instead of blood. The tests now on the market require lancing a finger and placing blood droplets on a test card that is shipped to a laboratory. The tests now have a 99.9 percent accuracy rate. Johnson & Johnson began selling its test in June and Home Access in July, and each says it has already sold tens of thousands of kits. Home Access said that about 70 percent of buyers are men - half homosexual, half heterosexual. In large urban markets, store sales are outnumbering mail orders roughly 2-to-1, while in rural areas, where the cashier CASHIER. An officer of a moneyed institution, who is entitled by virtue of his office to take care of the cash or money of such institution. 2. The cashier of a bank is usually entrusted with all the funds of the bank, its notes, bills, and other choses in is likely to be a neighbor, mail orders have a 3-to-1 edge. The manufacturers say that slightly more than 1 percent of the tests are registering positive for HIV. Health care agencies that conduct their own testing and some AIDS advocacy groups say they think the companies' revenue estimates are a bit high and the consumer demographics The attributes of people in a particular geographic area. Used for marketing purposes, population, ethnic origins, religion, spoken language, income and age range are examples of demographic data. are inaccurate, particularly in light of the cost of the kits and the limited sales so far. The companies brush this off. ``Demand is exceeding our expectations in a big way,'' said Quattrocchi.``There might have been pent-up demand'' among those who did not want employers, insurance companies or friends and family to know they feared testing positive. For both companies, price is an issue. ``Opponents have said this basically is only going to be used by the worried well or rich gay men,'' said Dr. Bernard Branson, an epidemiologist specializing in AIDS and HIV at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. . ``They are in the market to make money. The manufacturers of home-collection devices may try to find people at risk, but they also want to find people who can afford this test.'' In fact, while numerous consumers in Manhattan drugstores said they thought the tests were needed, some said the price would discourage them. ``I'd probably go to my doctor. It's cheaper,'' said Michael Spier at a Rite Aid in Manhattan. The manufacturers are also being criticized by health care and counseling agencies that say the process for learning results is flawed flaw 1 n. 1. An imperfection, often concealed, that impairs soundness: a flaw in the crystal that caused it to shatter. See Synonyms at blemish. 2. and the phone counseling the companies offer is risky. ``The efficiency of phone counseling when it comes to finding out whether you have a life-threatening illness is just something we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. anything about,'' said Christopher Portelli, spokesman for the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association. ``There is no follow-up.'' Not everyone takes issue with phone counseling. ``People have this impression that the whole country has got it as good as in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and New York, where you go to a clinic and are offered counseling when you get results,'' said Peter Staley, a board member of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. ``That's not the case nationwide.'' Quattrocchi, of Home Access, said there was no proof that phone counseling is ineffective. What's more, ``If people don't want phone counseling, guess what: They can go to a clinic or their doctor's office.'' CAPTION(S): 6 Photos, 4 Charts, Box Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Private answers HIV tests, the newest kind of in-home medical kits, face criticism about marketing tactics and counseling (2) ``Demand is exceeding our expectations in a big way. There might have been pent-up demand,'' said Richard Quattrocchi, president of Direct Access Diagnostics, a company that produces a home HIV test. John McCoy/Daily News (3--6) no caption (Confide ads) Chart: (1) HETEROSEXUALS (2) HOMOSEXUAL MEN (3) AFRICAN-AMERICAN (4) HISPANICS Box: finding a market The New York Times |
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