“Independents that survive today find a niche,” said Nicholas M. Saraniti, chief executive
officer of Commcare Pharmacy, with locations in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami.
Commcare specializes in prescription drugs. It doesn’t sell novelties or over-the-counter drugs. Its niche also includes dialysis, hepatitis and organ transplant management programs and other services for high-risk patients.
While business is up, profits remain the same. “We’re having to do more to make the same money,” Saraniti said.

Many independent and specialty pharmacists contend they have lost business from seniors who thought they had to go to the stores listed on their membership cards.
“Absolutely, positively,” said Nicholas Saraniti, owner CommCare Pharmacy in Fort Lauderdale, which specializes in HIV/AIDS medicine. “I hear that time and time again.”

Nicholas Saraniti, director of operations at ComCare Pharmacy in Fort Lauderdale, got Walgreens’ scouting letter through a fellow independent pharmacist. He said they were both incensed by its opening sentence, which refers to “today’s challenging pharmacy environment of Medicare and Medicaid changes, pharmacist shortages and shrinking margins.”

Nick Saraniti, CEO and director of operations of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based specialty pharmacy Commcare Pharmacy, is also skeptical. He noted that the results indicate patients who took the vaccine contracted HIV 31.2% less than those who didn’t, but the question remained as to whether they were also 31.2% less exposed to the virus

“Realistically, it doesn’t put them much closer to a vaccine than they were two years ago,” said Nick Saraniti, CEO and director of operations of Commcare Pharmacy, a specialty pharmacy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “It gives us the hope to keep trying.”