Content about Conference Call

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Bayer HealthCare on Tuesday signed a merger agreement to acquire Schiff Nutrition International, and with that, prominent supplement brands Digestive Advantage, MegaRed, Move Free and Airborne. These four products accounted for 70% of all Schiff sales, noted Marijn Dekkers, Bayer CEO, during an analyst call Wednesday morning. "This acquisition will strengthen Bayer's leading OTC business and complement our existing nutritionals business with well-established strong brands," he said. 

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway's approach to multichannel retailing — a shopping app fielding personalized, targeted promotions to members of its growing Just for U loyalty program — represents the foundation for future growth, executives noted during a conference call with analysts Thursday morning.  

With its sights firmly fixed on delivering innovative solutions that address emerging customer needs that no stand-alone PBM or stand-alone retail pharmacy could provide, CVS Caremark is seeing growing interest in its proprietary programs — or integration sweet spots — known as Maintenance Choice and Pharmacy Advisor.


On pace to reach about 1,000 clinic locations by 2016 and a robust team of 1,800 nurse practitioners and physician assistants working tirelessly to provide patients convenient access to quality care, MinuteClinic has demonstrated the integral role that it plays not only within CVS Caremark’s healthcare offering but within the entire U.S. healthcare system.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — What should be clear by now is that Rite Aid is making a big comeback, and along the way, it's also carving out an important niche for itself.

(THE NEWS: Rite Aid opens 'next generation' Wellness store, reports September sales. For the full story, click here.)

Judging from the number of dietary supplement companies that are being snatched up by heavy-hitting suppliers in the over-the-counter space, the 5% uptick in supplement sales for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 12 is one trend that stands to continue. Sales across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart) for that period totaled $1.5 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group data. 


Procter & Gamble in March acquired New Chapter, and with that now fields a comprehensive line of supplements that goes well beyond the probiotic Align and the fiber supplement Metamucil it already owned. 


PARIS — L'Oréal Paris posted an increase in first-half 2012 sales and expects to achieve another year of growth in sales, results and profitability.

Prepare to roll up your sleeves, because the battle for the ESI patient has only just begun. While Wall Street is busy calculating the earnings-per-share impact this will have on all relevant parties (at press time, Walgreens’ shares had consistently hovered around the $35 range, up almost $4 in the week following the announcement), the business of pharmacy retailing will return to block and tackle mode.


One of the most visible representations of Rite Aid’s efforts to make a comeback is its Wellness store format. The company first unveiled the format in several test markets in the Northeast last year, gradually expanding it to other states. Today, more than 420 stores have been converted, and the chain hopes to eventually make the format the norm. The company plans to have 780 stores converted by the end of the year.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Prepare to roll up your sleeves, because the battle for the ESI patient has only just begun. While Wall Street is busy calculating the earnings-per-share impact this will have on all relevant parties (Walgreens' stock is still trading up some $3, an approximate 10% increase, since the announcement), the business of pharmacy retailing will return to block and tackle mode. Filling prescriptions across the back-bench may have become a commodity, but that pharmacy patient still holds tremendous value. And beginning Sept.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The days of Walgreens quarterly conference calls focusing primarily on lost prescriptions from the Express Scripts pharmacy network soon may be over with the retail pharmacy's announcement early Tuesday morning that Walgreens and the U.K. pharmacy operation Alliance Boots would merge.

At first blush, there appears to be nothing special about Dollar General’s first Southern California store in the suburb of Montclair. It occupies about 7,500 sq. ft. of space in an aging strip center, and a small banner hung on the exterior beckons to passing motorists and pedestrians, “Now Open.” Inside, more signs explain the bare-bones merchandising of familiar brands to shoppers unfamiliar with the Dollar General value proposition.