Content about Pharmacy

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Stop & Shop has launched a card to help customers save money on prescription drugs, days after sister-chain Giant Food of Landover, Md., did the same.

Stop & Shop, owned by Ahold USA, announced the introduction of the Stop & Shop Prescription Savings Card. The card is available for a one-time enrollment fee of $10 and offers 30-day supplies of certain generic drugs for $3.99 and 90-day supplies for $9.99, as well as additional savings on products and services like diabetes testing supplies and flu shots.

ARLINGTON, Va. — With about 80 days until the launch of the first-ever NACDS Total Store Expo, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is calling on participants to plan ahead to maximize their results from the innovative new strategic exchange and trade show. The inaugural event will debut August 10 to 13, 2013 at Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.

TAMPA, Fla. — The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy on Tuesday announced that CARE Pharmacies has joined the association as a founding corporate member. The founding members represent all practice areas within the industry including specialty pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, health care services, group purchasing organizations and manufacturers.  

NEW YORK — An effort to allow trusted online pharmacies to add ".pharmacy" to their URLs cleared a hurdle last week as it passed an initial evaluation by the body that regulates the web address suffixes, known as generic top-level domains.

LONDON — British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has acquired Swiss vaccine development company Okairos for $325 million, GSK said Wednesday.

Privately owned Okairos develops technologies used to create vaccines, and GSK said it would use them in the development of the "next generation" of vaccines for preventing infections and for treatment of infections and diseases, saying it would allow the development of the "next generation.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association and RxWiki, Inc., a leading pharmacy media network, announced today a new partnership that will offer digital solutions to more than 23,000 community pharmacies across the country. Through this strategic partnership, NCPA will incorporate RxWiki's Digital Pharmacist offering as a new, cost-free benefit for its members. The Digital Pharmacist suite includes website, social media, and mobile solutions for pharmacists to deliver medication information to patients.

Like drinking from a fire hose. That’s one way some pharmacy retailers might describe their efforts to manage the flood of data unleashed every day by their prescription dispensing operations. The goal: to turn that data flow into actionable information they can use to better manage pharmacy workflow and staff resources, boost profitability, reduce customer wait times and make more informed decisions about the capital every retail pharmacy must allocate to technology and staffing.

PRINCETON, N.J. — Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca will buy Omthera Pharmaceuticals for $323 million, the two companies said Tuesday.

Omthera, based in Princeton, N.J., develops drugs for dyslipidemia, conditions that result in abnormal levels of lipids in the blood. Its lead products include Epanova, an experimental drug for patients with high triglycerides that's based on omega-3 fatty acids; Omthera has finished late-stage clinical trials of the drug and plans to file for Food and Drug Administration approval in mid-2013.

Why does the federal government want to block independent pharmacies from providing much-needed diabetes testing supplies to older homebound patients?

In a clear case of over zealous federal policy-making and glacial government response time, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it will do just that beginning in July. That’s when CMS has decreed it will no longer allow small community pharmacies to deliver diabetic test kits to homebound and long-term care patients on Medicare.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Canadian drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is buying U.S.-based Bausch & Lomb Holdings for $8.7 billion, the companies said Monday.

Bausch & Lomb makes prescription and over-the-counter eye health products, as well as contact lenses and solutions and eye-surgery equipment.

NEW YORK — Forest Labs president and CEO Howard Solomon will retire at the end of 2013, the company said.

The drug maker announced that Solomon would still remain as chairman through the 2014 annual meeting, retaining the title of chairman emeritus after a replacement is elected. Solomon has served as CEO since 1977, chairman since 1998 and president since 2010.

An independent committee of the company's board of directors is looking within and outside the company for candidates to replace Solomon and plans to announce a successor before the end of the year.