A group of Russians studying pharmaceutical businesses in the Lawrence area received a glimpse this week at how their American counterparts are trying to control costs.

The Russian delegation on Wednesday toured RightChoice Pharmacy in Tonganoxie and learned how the small-town operation is beginning to make major changes in the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharmacy doesn’t sell to Tonganoxie area residents. Instead it fills prescriptions for small, independent pharmacies in 12 states across the country.

Pharmacies electronically send prescription orders to the company’s offices in a Tonganoxie business park, where 10 employees fill them and then ship them for delivery to the pharmacies the next day. The operation currently fills about 1,000 prescriptions per day and expects that number to grow to 5,000 by 2005.

Kent Richardson, president and co-founder of the company, said the concept behind the company was to allow independent pharmacies to compete with the growing trend of mail-order pharmacies, which take a prescription from an individual and mail the drug to the patient.

Richardson’s company doesn’t ship drugs directly to patients. Instead the drugs are shipped to pharmacies where patients come in the next day to pick them up. Richardson said that was an advantage because it allowed patients to continue to receive special instructions directly from their pharmacists.

“I strongly believe in the pharmacist-patient relationship,” Richardson said.

The company offers local pharmacies an economic advantage, Richardson said, because RightChoice can purchase drugs in bulk, which results in a lower price tag. It also can fill the prescriptions at a lower cost because of its automated processes.

Richardson said he came up with the idea for the company about six years ago when he owned an independent pharmacy in Wichita.

“It was pretty much out of frustration,” Richardson said. “I had to find a way to compete with mail-order (pharmacies). I’d have a patient for 15 years and then lose them to mail-order. I could complain about it all I wanted, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

The business opened in October 2001.