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CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has expanded its telemedicine service to 58 more stores, the retail pharmacy chain said Friday.

Rite Aid said the NowClinic Online Care service were available at stores in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The service gives customers access to care, via a secure online video connection, from OptumHealth doctors and nurses. The company originally unveiled the program at nine stores in Detroit in 2011.

FLINT, Mich. — A clinical technology manager at Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy has received an award from a state pharmacy association.

Diplomat said Monday that Michael Crowe had received the Fellow of Michigan Pharmacists Association award, announced over the weekend at the MPA's annual convention and exposition in Detroit. According to the MPA, the award "recognizes achievements and dedication to the practice of pharmacy, the community and MPA. The distinction signifies the recipient's actions well beyond the regular practice toward the advancement of pharmacy."

MINNEAPOLIS — Target will dedicate about 10,000 sq. ft. at nine of its stores in the Detroit area to fresh groceries, the mass merchandise chain said Monday.

The company said the remodeling effort was part of its ongoing effort to remodel stores across the country, and the new layout also would include reinventions in departments such as beauty, home, shoes and baby. Fresh foods will include produce, packaged meat and prepackaged baked goods, as well as frozen and dry food offerings.

DETROIT — Avanti is gearing up for spring 2013 by boosting its portfolio to include a variety of new greeting cards.

New to the Avanti portfolio are Valentine's Day cards enhanced with glitter and foil; Easter cards that showcase bright colors and characters; Mother's Day cards that are humorous and traditional; Father's Day cards that evoke a "saltier" style of humor; and graduation cards for grades kindergarten and older. Avanti also is launching new seasonal StandOuts cards and Avanti-branded cards that have been added to the company's A*Press collection.

DETROIT — Nature’s Health Connection on Monday named New York Times best-selling author Robyn Benincasa as the spokeswoman for its topical pain reliever Australian Dream.

Nature's Health Connection will be launching a new advertising campaign behind Australian Dream to include television, an advertorial and online marketing. The premise of the ads is that “if it works for [Robyn], imagine what it can do for you,” illustrating the effectiveness of Australian Dream.

WASHINGTON — People with diabetes are at increased risk of hearing loss, which has prompted two groups to encourage those living with the disease to have their hearing checked.

The American Diabetes Association and the Better Hearing Institute are launching the effort as part of the ADA's Diabetes Alert Day, on Tuesday, which also includes an effort to encourage people to check if they are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy announced on Wednesday the launch of Project Health (Proyecto Salud in Spanish), a wellness program delivering more than $21 million worth of free health screenings to multicultural communities.

When someone says “pharmacy automation and technology,” the image that most likely springs to mind is a pharmacy robot dispensing pills in a bottle or pharmacists managing operations or looking at patients’ medical records and electronic prescriptions with the latest pharmacy software.


But technology increasingly is migrating out from behind the counter as pharmacy retailers wield it not just to make the jobs of pharmacists and pharmacy techs easier, but to enhance the experience of the customer as well.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The virtual clinic services that Rite Aid is offering at its stores in Detroit are emblematic of the increasingly important role of retail pharmacy in health care and the pharmacy’s growing position as a one-stop destination for health.

(THE NEWS: Rite Aid offers 'virtual' clinics. For the full story, click here)

NEW YORK — Generic drug maker Sandoz is suing Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk over a generic version of a drug used to treat diabetes, according to published reports.

Bloomberg reported that Sandoz, the generics arm of Swiss drug maker Novartis, was suing Novo Nordisk in a Detroit federal court, hoping the court would find that the Sandoz generic version of Novo Nordisk's Prandin (repaglinide) did not infringe on the latter company's patent covering the drug.

WOONSOCKET, R.I., and DETROIT — Henry Ford Health System is working to increase its capacity to serve patients in metropolitan Detroit through a new collaborative effort with CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic.

MinuteClinic has 10 walk-in clinics inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in Southeast Michigan and is exploring additional locations in the Detroit metropolitan area.

ALLEGAN, Mich. — Perrigo on Tuesday announced that the Detroit office of the Food and Drug Administration has concluded its re-inspection of Perrigo's Allegan facility.

The FDA has informed Perrigo that, effective immediately, Perrigo has an acceptable regulatory status, such that any pending export license and abbreviated new drug applications from this facility will once again be eligible for review and approval.