SAN FRANCISCO, January 27, 2025–San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) is delighted to announce plans to open a full-service pharmacy at Strut, its health and wellness center in the Castro, at 470 Castro Street. The pharmacy, led by an AAHIVP-certified pharmacist, will focus on serving the HIV, PrEP, STI, and sexual health care medication needs of SFAF clients, and will also be able to fill prescriptions for other conditions as well. SFAF plans to open the pharmacy in the first half of 2025. 

“Operating a pharmacy alongside our HIV and sexual health care clinic will allow us to deliver more coordinated and comprehensive care to our Magnet clinic clients, which we anticipate will bring better clinical outcomes to clients,” said Tyler TerMeer, PhD, CEO of SFAF. “Our pharmacists, healthcare providers, and benefits navigation staff will be able to work together to assist clients in all aspects of medication management and adherence, and the pharmacy will help SFAF sustain our work.”

The pharmacy will allow SFAF to expand its popular PrEP program, which is currently operating at maximum capacity. On-site pharmacists will be able to prescribe and dispense same-day PrEP to new clients, and then refer clients to SFAF’s sexual health clinic Magnet for longer-term PrEP and sexual health care. The pharmacy will also offer an on-site injection clinic, which will allow SFAF pharmacists to provide long-acting injectable PrEP. (Currently, some SFAF clients accessing long-acting injectable PrEP must go to an off-site infusion center for quarterly injections.)

“With the anticipated approval of a new long-acting injection for PrEP this year, delivered only twice per year, we are eager to be able to expand our PrEP services in this area,” said Hyman Scott, MD, MPH, SFAF’s medical director. “Being able to offer injectable PrEP at the same location as our clinic will be a time-saver for clients and will allow us to be able to offer this game-changing method of HIV prevention to many more community members.” 

Construction on the new pharmacy, which will be housed on the first floor of the three-story Strut health and wellness center, will begin in January, 2025. SFAF’s sexual health clinic, Magnet, will remain open and operational during construction.  

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