Content about Drug Fix

Kmart is distancing itself from a parody of its viral "Ship My Pants" ad on YouTube that many are saying goes too far, crossing the line from edgy to racist.

A 26-member joint panel comprising the Food and Drug Administration's Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs and Drug Safety and Risk Management advisory committees voted to support modifying or removing the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy protocol for GlaxoSmithKline's Type 2 diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone).

Historically, the FDA has followed advisory committee votes when making a decision on the marketing of a drug even though it is not bound by them, but assuming the agency follows the panel's advice, it could mean a lot for the controversial drug and the way it's dispensed. But even if Avandia winds up on retail pharmacy shelves again, it faces a very different landscape from its heyday.

Beginning July 1, Walgreens will be able to provide tube feeding services to Medicare patients in 97 of 100 competitive-bidding areas nationwide, the healthcare solutions provider announced last week. The contracts are up for renewal every three years.

This is just another example of how Walgreens is transforming its pharmacy business into a center for healthcare solutions — this goes far beyond dispensing and ultimately aims squarely at reducing hospitalization costs, another way that Walgreens is helping payers bend the cost curve. It begs the question: Should traditional suppliers be thinking about the role their products can play as Walgreens develops new business segments like infusion services?

Efforts to create a generic top-level domain for legitimate pharmacy websites gained traction last week when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN - the body that controls what goes into Internet URLs - gave the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy a passing grade for an initial evaluation of its plans for the domain, ".pharmacy."

If successful, the .pharmacy domain will create a powerful new weapon to combat the rise of illegal online pharmacies, which, according to many studies, constitute all but 3% of the websites selling drugs on the Internet. These are the "Canadian" pharmacies selling cheap drugs that one often sees links to on search engines and other websites; despite their supposed provenance, they're usually based in countries where regulations are lax or unenforced.

Long Island University gave its Distinguished Alumnus award to C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries owner Ian Ginsberg, a 1985 graduate of the university's pharmacy school.

C.O. Bigelow isn't just any drug store - it's the oldest one in the country, having been founded in 1838. Ginsberg's family has owned it since his grandfather, William Ginsberg, bought it in 1939. So, as one might ask a centenarian, what's C.O. Bigelow's secret?

Alliance Boots posted a double-digit adjusted profit gain of 12.7% to $1.2 billion for its year ended March 31. Almost half of that profit is staked by Walgreens with its 45% share of the European pharmaceutical distributing powerhouse.

A couple days later, Alliance Boots along with Walgreens and AmerisourceBergen announced the necessary regulatory clearances on that strategic partnership, cementing the three companies in place as the largest generic pharmaceutical acquisition company in the world. That deal will further enable the company's to realize greater profit margins.

The Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board will begin certifying specialty pharmacists who pass a comprehensive exam in October. The exam is designed to cover the entire specialty pharmacy process, including intake, clinical management, fulfillment and outcomes.

The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy, which oversees the SPCB, is bringing to bear some real advocacy and structure to the highly fragmented specialty pharmacy marketplace. The DSN Group, including its specialty pharmacy publication of the same name Specialty Pharmacy, applauds these efforts.

CVS Caremark executives were upbeat during last week’s conference call with analysts as the company pulled in a “strong” first quarter and narrowed its 2013 guidance to reflect higher-than-expected performance.

The positive start to 2013 is important as it further demonstrates that CVS Caremark’s distinctive, integrated healthcare model is resonating and spelling success for this pharmacy innovation company.

Jobs data from the Department of Labor released Friday show that among the 165,000 jobs added overall were 29,000 in the retail sector, results that industry trade group the National Retail Federation heralded as possibly boding well for the economy in the future.

While the numbers themselves speak volumes, it's important to consider some of the factors behind them that explain why the sector has thrived.

Cardinal Health announced the renewal of its pharmaceutical distribution agreement with CVS Caremark to supply pharmaceuticals to the company’s retail pharmacies and distribution centers, as McKesson, which generally serves the PBM side of the business, also announced the renewal of its current distribution agreement with the pharmacy retailer.

The renewal of the agreements was not only critical for both companies but, as Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting and CEO of Drug Channels Institute, wrote in his blog “CVS Caremark Renews with Cardinal and McKesson,” it also “demonstrates wholesalers' value in the brand-name pharmacy supply chain.”

Amazon.com created a virtual health and wellness depot with the launch of its new 50+ Active and Healthy Living Store.

President Barack Obama sent his $3.8 trillion budget proposal to Congress on April 10, and the plan includes a number of provisions designed to cut spending on health care and promote health and wellness.

Overall, the budget is something of a mixed bag for the healthcare industry. While it would provide incentives for expanding the use of generic drugs, for example, it would also cut spending on Medicaid that have drawn opposition from pharmacy retailers, and even generic drug makers disagree with some of its provisions for that industry.