King Street Pharmacy Brings The Small-Town Experience to Downtown Fredericton
FREDERICTON – Growing up in the small town of Nackawic, Daniel Pike saw firsthand how respected pharmacists could be in their communities.
“It was often the first place people would go when they were looking for health-related advice. From an early age, I experienced that and I knew it was something I’d want for my career,” he says.
Pike, who has worked as a pharmacist in Nackawic and Fredericton, has now brought that concept of the small-town community pharmacy to downtown Fredericton with the new King Street Pharmacy, which specializes in custom compounding, hormone restoration therapy, travel health, and more.
Pike has already established himself as an entrepreneur as co-founder of Liv9, a life sciences startup that formulates natural multivitamin health supplements, and is an active member of the business community as a member of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
King Street Pharmacy, located at 348 King Street, takes the concept of creating individualized products for patients based on their needs and brings it directly into the community.
“I’d always had an interest in someday having my own store,” Pike says. “The opportunity came about to have this space and I really wanted to bring that small town community vibe to the space, have customer service be our number one priority, and know my patients by their first name.”
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Pike says with the role of pharmacists expanding as they’re given more authorization to treat and prescribe for minor ailments, there’s an opportunity to make community pharmacies the first stop for patients, rather than walk-in clinics or emergency rooms.
“Pharmacists are taking a more proactive role in health care and doing more for the health care system,” he says.
“Pharmacists have a great deal of training with respect to drug therapy, but a big portion of our education revolves around being able to assess and treat minor ailments. I see it as complementing the other health services we already have in place by giving patients another option.”
Pike has a keen interest in simplifying and customizing medication solutions for patients. He says, for example, if a patient is taking three or four oral medications for a pain condition, the pharmacy can combine the medications into a transdermal cream that’s delivered directly to the site, which can be more successful and minimize the risk of medication side effects.
King Street Pharmacy will also focus on creating custom nutritional supplements, which are of use to those who have allergies or simply want to avoid fillers or dyes commonly found in generic supplements.
“We’re getting back to the roots of pharmacy when pharmacists would be in their back lab making up different formulations,” Pike says. “I enjoy that. It’s unique and I find it a rewarding part of the profession.”
Pike says the pharmacy will continue to grow services offered to the community, including customized travel medicine solutions, and establish itself as a health care provider people can have confidence in.
“My goal is to be here for quite some time,” he says. “I most look forward to making relationships with my patients and customers. I want to be somebody my patients trust and they can come see for any ailment or if they need to chat.”