Content about CVS Caremark

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT CVS Caremark’s Behavior Change Research Partnership with several leading universities is likely to yield some invaluable results for the industry at large because if CVS Caremark executives and the participating academic leaders can better understand customer behavior and develop ways to encourage improved healthy behaviors, then the end result likely will be lower healthcare costs.

February was a busy month for CVS Caremark. First it was a party on Beale Street as the chain announced its entry into Memphis. A week later, it broke out the pina coladas as it cut the ribbon on its first store in Puerto Rico. In January, it was Budweiser in St. Louis.

There are just eight states in which CVS does not operate stores: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. In drug store retailing, being able to provide coverage “from sea to shining sea” means a lot when you try to sell your services to big healthcare payers.

CHICAGO Prompted by fear of a severe outbreak of H1N1, Illinois health officials, along with other states, temporarily allowed pharmacists to administer vaccine shots to children ages 9 years old. Now, drug stores are looking to get rid of the age restrictions altogether.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The news that CVS Caremark is making an investment to integrate its five pharmacy benefit management units isn’t really a big surprise and, in fact, could have some industry observers wondering what took this well-oiled acquisition machine so long.

(THE NEWS: Report: CVS Caremark to merge PBM units. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY ITS IMPORTANT Some investors quoted in published reports foresee huge gains for such retail pharmacy chains as CVS and Walgreens, as blockbuster drugs like Pfizer’s Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Sanofi-Aventis’ and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate) come off patent and face generic competition, but they would do well to remember an important factor: the patent cliff.