Allion Healthcare Announces Evaluation Citing Role of Its Pharmacy Support Program in Maintaining and Improving Health Status of Urban Poor with HIV

 

 

MELVILLE, NY, January 31, 2007 – Allion Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALLI), a national provider of specialty pharmacy and disease management services focused on HIV/AIDS patients, today announced the release of an evaluation authored by Joshua Bamberger, M.D., MPH, Medical Director, Housing and Urban Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health, which concluded that the initiation of pharmacy support program services provided by one of Allion’s MOMS specialty pharmacies in San Francisco improved the health status of urban poor living with HIV.

 

The evaluation, titled Improvement in Biologic Outcomes Following Initiation of a Community Pharmacy Support Program Among a Cohort of Inner City People Living with HIV, examined the improvement over a six-month to 36-month period in the study cohort’s level of CD4 counts and in the suppression of its viral loads, two important measures of health in the treatment of HIV infected people.  The level of improvement observed in the evaluation enabled the cohort to maintain a “robust immune response” at a level that has been shown to prevent development of lethal opportunistic infections and to reduce expensive hospitalization and mortality.  This improvement contrasted with the experience of other treatment programs examined in the evaluation, which, while slowing the natural decline of the immune system, still saw the median CD4 levels slowly declining over time.  According to the evaluation, such an ongoing decline would “eventually result in severe immune system compromise, susceptibility to opportunistic infection, repeated hospitalizations and, eventually, premature death.”

 

Commenting on the evaluation, Michael Moran, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allion, remarked, “We are very pleased with the conclusions of this evaluation, which are consistent with our day-to-day experience serving thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS. We believe the evaluation represents a positive step toward validating the efficacy of our programs through improved outcomes.”

 

The evaluation, which was supported by a small unrestricted educational grant from Allion, is available on Allion’s web site.

 

About Allion Healthcare, Inc.

 

Allion Healthcare, Inc. is a national provider of specialty pharmacy and disease management services focused on HIV/AIDS patients. Allion Healthcare sells HIV/AIDS medications, ancillary drugs and nutritional supplies under our trade name MOMS Pharmacy.  Allion offers nationwide pharmacy care from its pharmacies in New York, Washington, Florida and California. Allion Healthcare works closely with physicians, nurses, clinics and AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs), and with government and private payors, to improve clinical outcomes and reduce treatment costs for patients.

 

Contact:

Allion Healthcare, Inc.

Jim Spencer, Chief Financial Officer

(631) 870-5126