JGrimes
Partly because of the economic crisis, Walgreen has slowed the rate at which it is opening new stores. But the company isn’t shying away from scooping up stores that rivals are putting up for sale.
On a conference call this morning, Walgreen CEO Greg Wasson pointed out that the company agreed last week to […]
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Sarah Rubenstein
Public health officials are cautioning pharmacies to use restraint in marketing free generic antibiotics.
As health-care costs soar, why worry about free drugs? Because their availability may encourage patients who don’t need them to use them, contributing to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Some of our readers raised this point a few months […]
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JGrimes
The growing popularity of generic drugs has been a persistent thorn in the side of Big Pharma in recent years. But it’s been a boon to drug stores and pharmacy benefit managers, which have much higher margins on cheap generics than on expensive branded drugs.
The latest reminder came this morning, when the big […]
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JGrimes
In a gloomy earnings season, there’s a bit of good news today from a couple corners of the health-care world: pharmacy giant CVS Caremark, and drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals.
CVS reported higher net income in the fourth quarter and — perhaps more impressively — higher same-store sales for both prescription drugs and all the […]
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JGrimes
Rite Aid has entered a $5 million civil settlement with the Justice Department over the way pharmacies in eight states handled controlled substances, drugs like pain pills that are prone to abuse.
Rite Aid has agreed to set up a compliance plan meant to help “prevent diversion of controlled substances” and keep them away […]
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June Shaffer
Another supermarket chain is giving away generic antibiotics.
This time it’s Wegmans Food Markets, a grocer with 72 locations in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland, Newsday reports. The program, which lasts until March 31 and is described here, includes a handful of drugs such as penicillin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin.
It’s part […]
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June Shaffer
Medicare is moving to keep seniors from hitting the notorious “doughnut hole” so fast. That coverage gap leaves patients paying full freight for medicines under the Medicare drug benefit after they and their plans have hit $2,700 in spending on drugs for the year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it’s […]
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June Shaffer
Drugstore chains, which make big profit margins from generic drugs, have been reluctant to mimic Wal-Mart’s $4-a-month generics. But a few have trotted out their own cheap-drug options, and patients seem to be noticing.
Walgreen has a prescription savings club card that costs individuals $20 a year and families $35, entitling them to […]
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JGrimes
If you live in New York, you might not have to check expiration dates at the local pharmacy as closely as you used to.
Rite Aid just settled charges brought by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo over its alleged sale of expired products. And he’s on the warpath against CVS for selling expired […]
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JGrimes
McKesson, the big drug distributor, said this morning it has entered a legal settlement over a pretty arcane drug-pricing issue that has had a real effect on drug spending.
At issue: “average wholesale price,” or “ain’t what’s paid,” as some wags put it. While AWP is an important pricing benchmark, nobody who does big-time […]
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