Drug Store News articles from February 2007

Drug Store News archives from February 2007

Caremark sets March 16 shareholder vote on CVS merger.
February 28, 2007... NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Caremark Rx, as directed by a Delaware judge, has mailed to shareholders additional information on shareholder appraisal rights and the structure of fees to its financial advisors, and has set a shareholder vote on its...

Lawmakers ally with pharmacy in battle over Medicaid.
February 28, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers from both parties are expressing concern over the potential damage changes in Medicaid fees could inflict on both pharmacy operators and on the solvency of the Medicaid program itself. The new guidelines shift the...

Senate Judiciary Committee approves reverse-payment legislation.
February 28, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the reverse-payment legislation introduced by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., which will prevent brand manufacturers from paying off generic companies to keep their drugs off the...

Greco to give keynote at retail health clinic summit.
February 28, 2007... PHILADELPHIA -- Serving as the keynote speaker at the Drug Store News/Convenient Care Association Retail Health Clinic Summit is Rosemarie Greco of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's office. Greco, who serves as director of the governor's...

Pa. awards Rite Aid $1.5 million.
February 28, 2007... CAMP HILL, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development awarded $1.5 million to Rite Aid to help fund at least 350 new jobs, expansion of headquarters facilities in Cumberland and York counties and new associate...

CVS makes executive changes.(Judy Strauss Sansone, Jim Trappani and Cheryl Mahoney will now head new divisions)(Brief article)
February 28, 2007... WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- Pharmacy retailer CVS in recent weeks made several changes to its merchandising group as part of its continued effort to better position the team for future growth. According to the company, Judy Strauss Sansone, vice...

Spartan Stores breaks ground on Family Fare prototype.
February 28, 2007... GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Regional grocer Spartan Stores broke ground in Allendale Township, Mich., on a new Family Fare Supermarket that will be the prototype for future stores, according to published reports. Scheduled to open this fall, the...

Milwaukee.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- Take Care Health Systems and Walgreens announced on Thursday the opening this spring of five Health Corner Clinics at Walgreens stores in Milwaukee. The news came just days after the companies announced the second phase of a...

New York.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... NEW YORK -- Duane Reade has entered an agreement to assume the leases of eight Gristedes grocery stores throughout Manhattan. The transaction, which is subject to certain conditions, is expected to close before the end of June.

San Francisco.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Health clinic operator QuickHealth this week is opening its first in-store clinic inside a Longs Drug Store as it continues its expansion with three retailers in the Bay area. The clinic will open at a Longs in Redwood City,...

Nashville, Tenn.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Caremark Rx reported fourth-quarter earnings per share exceeded company expectations, as net revenue grew 11 percent to $9.3 billion. For the fourth quarter, net income totaled $301.5 million, or 71 cents per diluted...

Pleasanton, Calif.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway reported a 77 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit. The retailer posted earnings of $308 million for the quarter on the strength of a 3.5 percent increase in same-store sales. For the full year, Safeway...

Bellevue, Wash.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Drugstore.com's Matthew Stepka resigned as the online pharmacy retailer's vice president of pharmacy, effective March 2. According to the company, Stepka is relocating to the Bay area. No further details were available. The...

Princeton, N.J.(NEWSBITES)
February 28, 2007... PRINCETON, N.J. -- Novo Nordisk appointed Dr. Henrik Rasmussen as vice president of clinical, medical and regulatory affairs. Rasmussen will provide strategic oversight to the company's North America clinical research, regulatory and medical...

Walgreens to purchase 53 Familymeds Group pharmacies.
February 21, 2007... DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Industry consolidation continues, as Walgreens announced on Thursday that it will buy a majority of the pharmacy assets from specialty pharmacy and medical specialty product provider Familymeds Group for about $60 million,...

Camp Hill, Pa.(NEWSBITES)
February 21, 2007... CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid announced the terms of its offering to reorganize some of its debt load as $500 million of its 7.5 percent senior secured notes due 2017, $200 million more than previously announced, and $500 million of its 8.625...

Chicago.(NEWSBITES)(Take Care Health Systems and Walgreens open Health Corner Clinics)(Brief article)
February 21, 2007... CHICAGO -- Take Care Health Systems and Walgreens announced on Tuesday the opening of four of nine additional Health Corner Clinics inside Chicago-area Walgreens stores. A total of 17 Health Corner Clinics will be in operation by early...

Milwaukee.(NEWSBITES)
February 21, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- Aurora Health Care has purchased four Jewel-Osco drug stores in southeast Wisconsin. It has purchased the pharmacy portion of each store from Supervalu, which announced last month that it was selling all 15 of its Jewel-Osco...

Wal-Mart unleashes wave of clinic openings.(CheckUps and SmartCare to open in-store clinics)(Brief article)
February 21, 2007... BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- In a dramatic bit of clinical muscle-flexing by the nation's third-largest pharmacy chain, Wal-Mart and two of its clinical care partners staged a rapid-fire series of in-store clinic openings last week that roughly...

Biogenerics to save $71 billion.
February 21, 2007... MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Miss. -- Patients and health care insurance providers could save a minimum of $71 billion over 10 years if an approval pathway for biogeneric drugs existed, according to a new study from Express Scripts. Biogenerics are...

Judge to rule on CVS/Caremark.(CVS crop. and Caremark Homecare Inc. merger faces a legal battle)(Brief article)
February 21, 2007... WILMINGTON, Del. -- At a hearing on Friday, a Delaware judge said he expects to rule by Feb. 23 on requests for a preliminary injunction against the proposed CVS/Caremark merger. Express Scripts and a group of Caremark shareholders, led...

DrSN to host first Retail Health Clinic Summit.
February 21, 2007... PHILADELPHIA -- Drug Store News, in partnership with the Convenient Care Association, is holding in March the first-ever Retail Health Clinic Summit. The daylong educational summit will be held March 19 in the Houston Hall at the University...

GOP lawmakers balking at banning brand-generic alliances.
February 21, 2007... WASHINGTON -- A bill to ban the lucrative partnerships struck between branded and generic drug makers to delay the introduction of generics has come under fire from some Republican lawmakers, Reuters reports. The bill, introduced by...

Rx drug sales up 5 percent in 2006.(Financial report)
February 21, 2007... FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Drug sales grew by 5 percent in 13 countries in 2006, according to a recent report from IMS Health. Total sales for the year closed at $388.28 billion. Sales growth for North America was 7 percent, for a total of...

Vaccine market to hit $10 billion.
February 21, 2007... NEW YORK -- The world vaccine market is expected to reach more than $10 billion this year, according to a report from medical market research firm Kalorama Information. There is expected to be high demand for vaccines in various stages...

CPG veteran Jim McWeeney dies at 69.(consumer packaged goods)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 21, 2007... SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jim "the Chief" McWeeney, 69, passed away peacefully Saturday after a 45-day struggle with renal failure and other medical complications, Drug Store News has learned. Well-known and well-liked, Jim McWeeney, a sales...

Princeton, N.J.(NEWSBITED)
February 21, 2007... PRINCETON, N.J. -- Federal agents searched the office and manufacturing facility of generic drug company Ranbaxy on Wednesday, in Plainsboro and New Brunswick, N.J. They took paper and electronic documents, said Chuck Caprariello, vice...

Hamilton, N.J.(NEWSBITES)
February 21, 2007... HAMILTON, N.J. -- Ascendia Brands, which recently completed its acquisition of Calgon and Healing Garden from Coty Inc., has tapped a former Newell Rubbermaid executive, Steven Scheyer, as its new president and chief executive officer,...

Caremark ordered to postpone shareholder vote.
February 14, 2007... NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Delaware judge has ordered Caremark Rx to postpone a shareholder vote on the merger agreement with CVS until March 9. Caremark shareholders were originally scheduled to vote on Feb. 20. According to published...

Charles R. Walgreen Jr. dies at 100.(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... DEERFIELD, Ill. -- With the death of Charles R. Walgreen Jr., drug store retailing has lost one of its most influential pioneers. "Chuck" Walgreen, who would have reached the age of 101 on March 4, died late Saturday night at his Northfield,...

Alli available by summer.(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... PITTSBURGH -- GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare stated that the newly approved OTC version of orlistat, Alli, would be available in stores nationwide by this summer. Alli is indicated for adults only (age 18 and older), but will not be...

Express scripts 4Q up 32%.(Express Scripts Inc.)(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... ST. LOUIS -- Express Scripts recorded fourth-quarter net income of $147.2 million. Excluding non-recurring items in both quarters, earnings per diluted share was $1.02, a 32 percent increase over last year. For the year, the PBM reported net...

NCPA applauds house introduction of H.R.971.
February 14, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The National Community Pharmacists Association issued a statement Monday, in support of a new bill introduced last week in the House of Representatives. Introduced Friday by Reps. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Jerry Moran,...

Medicare driving up generics dispensing.
February 14, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Medicare Part D drug benefit program is fueling big gains in the use of generic medications, new data from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed...

PBM, pharmacy integration far off.
February 14, 2007... SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Pharmacy benefit management firms and health plans are a long way from fully adopting electronic health information technologies, a new study shows. And that lack of technology and e-communications capability has kept...

FDA approvals up from 2005.
February 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it approved more drugs last year than in 2005, but fewer than in 2004. Last year there were 14 more approvals than the previous year. Until October, it looked likely that...

Basel, Switzerland.(NEWSBITES)
February 14, 2007... BASEL, Switzerland -- Roche announced full-year 2006 sales, disclosing that global sales of prescription-only Xenical (orlistat 120 mg) for weight loss climbed 14 percent to $91.9 million. Roche's full-year sales across its diabetes portfolio...

Chester, N.J.(Adams Respiratory Therapeutics)(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... CHESTER, N.J. -- Adams Respiratory Therapeutics reported net sales for the company's second quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 75 percent to $110.6 million from $63.2 million in the second quarter last year. This growth comes primarily from Mucinex...

Walnut Creek, Calif.(NEWSBITES)
February 14, 2007... WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Longs Drug Stores beat the expectations of analysts in January with a 3.4 percent increase in same-store sales. Pharmacy sales grew by 4.2 percent, while front-end sales rose 2.5 percent. Total retail sales grew 5.2...

Toronto.(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... TORONTO -- Shoppers Drug Mart recorded a 10.1 percent increase in sales for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 30, cresting slightly more than US$1.7 billion. On a same-store basis, sales increased 6.5 percent. Prescription sales increased 11.4...

Milwaukee.(NEWSBITES)
February 14, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- Roundy's Supermarkets has expanded into Chicago for the first time. The full-size store, which includes a pharmacy and homeopathic section, will be about 80,000 square feet on two floors and is one of many the chain will open...

Carteret, N.J.(Brief article)
February 14, 2007... CARTERET, N.J. -- Pathmark Stores reached a license agreement with Mini-MedCare to locate a medical care clinic in its Weehawken, N.J., store. The clinic will open in March and will be staffed by qualified nurse practitioners and physician...

Bentonville, Ark.(NEWSBITES)
February 14, 2007... BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores has joined other groups in an ambitious campaign to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Among its goals: to rein in soaring health care costs and extend universal health coverage to all Americans, while...

Dispensing costs far outpace fees, study finds.
February 7, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The pharmacy lobby's struggle to halt the relentless slide in prescription dispensing profit margins got a new measure of support Thursday. The national Cost of Dispensing Study provides one of the sharpest rebuttals...

CVS, Express Scripts try to sway Caremark shareholders.(Caremark Rx Inc.)(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- The takeover battle of Caremark Rx continued as CVS sent another letter to Caremark shareholders and Express Scripts withdrew its Hart-Scott-Rodino notification, ran its own ad in the Wall Street Journal and mailed a...

Judge rules in diversion case.
February 7, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- In what may be a landmark case, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge found in favor of Green Pharmaceuticals, awarding the maker of SnoreStop more than $10 million plus the recovery of court costs, which includes $2 million in...

January sales up over last year.(Financial report)
February 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- January sales were up at drug stores and mass merchants. Rite Aid January same-store sales grew 4.5 percent, compared with the year-ago period. Pharmacy same-store sales increased 5.1 percent, while front-end same-store sales were...

Federal budget plan raising alarms.
February 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The White House is raising hackles among retail pharmacy and generics groups over its proposed 2008 federal budget. "Just as community pharmacy begins to face the challenges presented by the Deficit Reduction Act rule...

Kerr builds hybrid store.(Kerr Drug)(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... RALEIGH, N.C. -- Kerr Drug has begun construction on a unique hybrid store in Sanford, N.C., that will blend both a clinical-care pharmacy and a traditional drug store. The 15,600-square-foot store will include elements of Kerr's...

Eq-life to reposition chain.(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Eq-life will close one of its two remaining stores as it repositions itself in the Twin Cities market. The Oak Park Heights location will close its doors immediately, and the two-year-old health and wellness chain instead...

Costco changes generics program.(Costco Wholesale Corp.)(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Costco will not continue its test of $4 generics, and now is promoting a program that offers a 100-count supply of 200 different generic drugs for $9.95 or less. Senior vice president of pharmacy Charles Burnett said...

Drugstore.com outlines 2007 plans.(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Drugstore.com finally may be establishing the business for a pharmacy click after posting positive year-end EBITDA for the first time and positive quarterly EBITDA for the third consecutive quarter. The retailer grew...

New York.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Pfizer has announced it will acquire BioRexis Pharmaceutical for an undisclosed amount. The privately held biotech company has a number of diabetes candidates and a new technology platform for developing new protein drug...

Wilmington, Del.(NEWSBITES)(mergers and acquisitions)(Brief article)
February 7, 2007... WILMINGTON, Del. -- AstraZeneca announced an agreement to buy Arrow Therapeutics, a privately held U.K. biotechnology company, for $150 million to boost research into compounds that fight bacteria and viruses. The transaction is likely to be...

Waltham, Mass.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... WALTHAM, Mass. -- Inverness Medical Innovations Monday announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of First Check Diagnostics, the market leader in the rapidly growing field of home testing for drugs of abuse--including...

Chicago.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... CHICAGO -- Dominick's acknowledged Friday it will close 14 of its 97 combo stores by the spring in a bid to stanch losses and shore up the chain's remaining 83 units.

New York.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Albertsons plans to close 11 unprofitable stores in Texas during February and March. The closures will affect approximately 770 employees.

Milwaukee.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- Supervalu sold two of its Jewel-Osco stores in Milwaukee to Lena's Food Market as it continued to exit southeastern Wisconsin. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Lena's plans to reopen the stores under the Lena's banner...

West Des Moines.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hy-Vee plans to open 10 in-store clinics this year in a partnership with Curaquick Clinics. The first will open next month, on March 21.

St. Louis.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... ST. LOUIS -- InstaClinic, a family-owned company, is opening 10 to 12 150-squarefoot retail health clinics in St. Louis-area Schnucks stores, according to a St. Louis Business Journal report. Three already have opened, and a fourth is slated...

Taylor, Mich.(NEWSBITES)
February 7, 2007... TAYLOR, Mich. -- Early Solutions Clinic has opened in-store clinics in two more Meijer combination stores in Michigan, boosting its total to four clinics in partnership with the chain.