When James Sheets and his partners decided to create a business that focused on home immune globulin therapy, they didn’t really know what to call it. The traditional dispensing pharmacy they already operated had a name: North Heights Pharmacy. But they felt this local focus would limit this new venture, which they expected to expand beyond their current Texas/Arkansas/Louisiana area.
“When I was presented with the challenge of coming up with a name, I didn’t really have any ideas,” James says.
At the time in late 2013, specialty pharmacies were just starting to emerge from other fields of pharmacy, so James decided “specialty” would be part of the name. He also wanted the word “clinical” to be in there, because with a team of outstanding pharmacists with decades of infusion experience, he and his business partner Barry Buls felt it was their commitment to providing comprehensive clinical services that set this new business apart.
Then one night in the middle of the night James woke up from a dead sleep with a picture of the whole plan.
“I sat up in bed and said, ‘Wait a minute. We’re going to call this thing Clinical Specialty Infusions, and we’ll use the name CSI Pharmacy,’” he says. “People will remember it, because they will think of the TV show Crime Scene Investigation.”
The logo would be a thumbprint overlaid with a magnifying glass, also tying in the idea of the detective. And the motto would be “Individualized therapies designed to be as unique as you,” because, like one’s fingerprint, CSI Pharmacy’s treatments are designed for the specific needs of each patient.
CSI Pharmacy is now licensed in 39 states and the District of Columbia with plans to acquire licenses in all 50 states. North Heights Pharmacy is still part of the business, filling retail prescriptions in Texarkana, Arkansas. The headquarters, which includes an infusion center, are based at a second physical location in Wake Village, Texas. Soon CSI plans to expand their individualized care by acquiring new bricks-and-mortar locations in at least two additional states.
“We are truly focused on making a difference in people’s lives,” James says. “And I’ve always said if we take care of patients, if we are there for the prescribers, and if we take good care of our employees, the rest will take care of itself.”
