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ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — PrescribeWellness on Tuesday announced a partnership with the American Pharmacy Alliance to provide independent retail pharmacies with a low-cost, easy-to-implement patient engagement solution. The APA is a consortium of leading pharmacy software providers for more than 12,000 independent and small chain pharmacies in the United States.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Monday passed the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would enable states to collect sales tax on online transactions, to widespread applause from big-box retail. If passed the act would remove the up-to 7% price advantage out-of-state online retailers have over brick-and-click or brick-and-mortar retailers operating and collecting sales taxes within the state. (For a comprehensive list of state sales taxes, click here.) 

SAN FRANCISCO — Stayhealthy on Monday named Iz-On Media the company's exclusive advertising sales, content and programming representative for the Stayhealthy HealthCenter kiosk network. 

The agreement creates an advertising convergence between health and wellness and grocery, Stayhealthy stated. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — A Walgreens survey released Tuesday found that 37% of Medicare Part D beneficiaries have daily concerns about their prescription drug costs, and 1-in-5 say they’ve had to make sacrifices, such as delaying filling a prescription or skipping doses, to help manage medication costs.

That's almost 11.7 million seniors. 

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Target is opening 22 of its stores in western Canada Tuesday and two more next Tuesday, the mass merchandise retailer said.

Target announced that it would soft open stores in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. Most of the stores will include pharmacies and in-store Starbucks. The chain plans to open 124 stores across Canada this year and opened 24 in Ontario in March.

LONDON — The global market for biosimilars will be worth nearly $2.5 billion this year, according to a new study.

The study, by British market research firm Visiongain, forecast that the $2.445 billion market size marked more than 20% of growth from 2012 and would account for about 2% of the overall market for biologics. The market is expected to grow rapidly through 2023 as biosimilars hit the market in the United States and European Union.

NEW YORK — The seventh annual Delete Blood Cancer Gala held on May 1 at Cipriani Wall Street broke all records of previous years and raised $3.7 million to support the fight against leukemia and other blood-related cancers. The money raised jointly by beauty company Coty Inc. and Delete Blood Cancer, part of the world's largest bone marrow donor center, will help register 55,000 new bone marrow donors and help patients worldwide.

NEW YORK — Pfizer is attempting to stem the rise of counterfeit medicines by selling one of its most popular drugs — and one of the most popular targets for counterfeiters — online.

The drug maker announced that it had launched Viagra (sildenafil citrate) home delivery, a prescription-fulfillment website for the drug, which is powered by CVS/pharmacy and accessible through Viagra.com.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Ethnic hair care brand Motions has introduced its new Motions Straight Finish Heat Styled System, which is a three-step product line that, with the help of heat styling tools, helps women with natural hair textures go from curly to straight and back again without losing their curls.

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug made by Merck for treating high cholesterol, the drug maker said.

Merck announced the approval of Liptruzet (ezetimibe and atorvastatin). The drug combines two preexisting cholesterol drugs: ezetimibe, which Merck markets under the brand name Zetia, and atorvastatin, which Pfizer markets under the name Lipitor. Both drugs are available as generics, but because Liptruzet is a novel combination of them, it required FDA approval as a new drug.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration may soon find itself in another Plan-B-generated quandary — the complications around granting a three-year marketing exclusivity for a medicine that is both prescription-only and over-the-counter, according to an FDA Law Blog posted Sunday by Hyman, Phelps & McNamara. 

SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets on Monday posted first-quarter sales of $682.7 million, representing an increase of 3.2%. Same-store sales were up 0.8%.  

"We continue to make forward progress in a market impacted by a poor economy that is generating minimal job growth. These have been ongoing trends in most of the markets we serve," said David Hepfinger, Weis Markets' president and CEO.  "Our customers also were impacted in the first quarter by a tax increase and post-holiday debt," he said.