Content about Massachusetts

NEEDHAM, Mass. — In the battle to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, scientists from Belgium have made a rare discovery: a new gene that influences survival time of ALS. The findings, reported in a recent issue of Nature Medicine, were funded in part by CVS/pharmacy and the ALS Therapy Alliance, a Boston-based nonprofit. The findings also confirm another recent study that identified the same pathway to finding a treatment for ALS.

BURLINGTON, Mass. — A network of more than 200 specialty pharmacies has joined a provider of direct-to-patient medication adherence programs.

Adheris, a subsidiary of inVentiv Health, announced that the Community Specialty Pharmacy Network had joined its network. The CSPN includes about 220 member pharmacies serving more than 100,000 patients in 49 states. Adheris' network includes more than 21,000 pharmacies.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — At the start of the year, Drug Store News predicted that 2012 would be a significant year for the convenient care industry as retail-based health clinics gear up for expansion and move closer to version 2.0. Well, that prediction is ringing true.

(THE NEWS: Mass. lawmakers pass healthcare bill that expands use of limited-service clinics. For the full story, click here)

QUINCY, Mass. — Supermarket chain Stop & Shop encouraged healthy lifestyles among children with an interactive event in Boston Tuesday.

NEWTON, Mass. — Five Star Quality Care is selling its pharmacy business for $30.7 million, the company said Tuesday.

Five Star said it would sell business, which consists of eight pharmacies serving institutional pharmacy services to 247 senior living communities in 13 states, to Omnicare.

In addition to the $30.7 million sale, the deal includes the sale to Omnicare or retention of certain items of net working capital worth about $9.4 million.

BEVERLY, Mass. — Cellceutix on Wednesday reported that the Food and Drug Administration granted a section 505(b) designation for its Prurisol treatment for psoriasis, which would allow the company to forgo early-stage trials and advance Prurisol into latter-stage clinical trials.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — An experimental drug for multiple sclerosis produced a noticeable reduction in symptoms of the disease in a late-stage clinical trial, the drug's developer said Friday.

Genzyme, a unit of French drug maker Sanofi, announced results from a phase-3 study of Aubagio (teriflunomide) in patients with relapsing forms of MS. According to the study, patients taking the drug in the 14-mg strength experienced a 36.3% reduction in annualized relapse rates and 31.5% reduction in the risk of sustained accumulation of disability over a 12-week period.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday afternoon hosted a live chat on Twitter regarding its newly launched national Retail Employees with Disabilities Initiative, an in-store training program designed to help people with disabilities gain retail employment, and how that program soon will expand.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — An aerodynamic chocolate product, invented by Harvard professor David Edwards, has made its U.S. debut.

Showcased at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago this week, AeroShot Chocolate, a reformulation of the original Le Whif Chocolate, delivers the taste of chocolate without the calories. Using a small lipstick-sized tube, consumers draw fine particles of chocolate into their mouth for a unique chocolate experience, according to AeroDesigns.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Drug maker Genzyme plans to present data from trial programs of two multiple sclerosis drugs at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in New Orleans, which starts this Saturday and lasts until next Saturday.

Genzyme, owned by French drug maker Sanofi, will present results of 12 trials of the experimental drugs alemtuzumab and teriflunomide, including the phase-3 "CARE-MS II" trial, which compares alemtuzumab with Rebif (interferon beta-1a), made by Pfizer and Merck KGaA.

DEERFIELD, Ill. and WATERTOWN, Mass. — Take Care Health Systems, which is owned by Walgreens, and Tufts Health Plan have announced the opening of a workplace health center called the BeWell Center, which offers wellness and preventive care, symptom care and laboratory services to Tufts Health Plan employees and contractors.

DALLAS — Taking vitamin E supplements does not increase or decrease heart failure risk among women, according to a study in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal, released Tuesday.