For the millions of Americans with moderate to severe allergies, allergen immunotherapy (AIM) is a time-tested and highly effective cure. But the number of allergists and immunologists who provide AIM in the United States is dwindling due in part to the prevalence of short-term, over-the-counter remedies.
Erie’s Direct Allergy aims to address that disconnect by offering turnkey, third-party AIM services, enabling family doctors and primary care physicians to provide this specialty care.
“We provide the expert labor, the specialized labor and the certified labor [to medical practices],” says founder and president Bob Schultz. “We are bringing allergy immunotherapy to the frontline of medicine.”
According to Schultz, pills, nasal sprays and similar medications only mask allergy symptoms; AIM actually cures allergies by slowly conditioning patients' immune symptoms to the allergen with weekly treatment over several years.
“It’s a better modality,” he explains. “It just hasn’t been marketed to primary care.”
For the practices, Direct Allergy offers a way to enhance clinical offerings, improve patient satisfaction and boost revenues without disrupting everyday operations. For patients, Direct Allergy's services are more convenient and less costly than visiting a specialist.
Schultz founded Direct Allergy in 2012 with several other longtime pharmaceutical industry executives. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern PA invested $350,000 to help launch several test sites.
Testing is now complete and Direct Allergy is in full operation at five sites in Titusville, one in Pittsburgh and two in western New York State, and is in negotiations in other states. Schultz projects that the company will expand into as many as 15 sites by the end of the year and to 36 by the end of 2015. The company currently employs 10 and could grow to 30 by year’s end.
Source: Bob Schultz, Direct Allergy; Liz Wilson Ben Franklin Technology Partners/CNP
Writer: Elise Vider