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WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Even just a few years ago, this kind of collaboration between a healthcare group and a drug store around a comprehensive food nutrition education program probably wouldn't have happened. Truth be told, it really isn't happening today. And that's because Walgreens isn't a drug store. Walgreens is a health and daily living solutions store.

While the ultimate impact of healthcare reform is still being debated, one trend is clear: Accountable care organizations continue to pick up steam. An ACO is a unique healthcare delivery model defined as a network of healthcare providers who share responsibility for coordinating high-quality care across a specific patient population. The concept is not new and, in fact, is based largely on integrated health system models that have been successful for many years.

MUMBAI, India — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries will take Taro Pharmaceutical Industries private, under a merger agreement between the two companies announced Sunday.

Sun, based in India, has sought to buy Israel-based Taro since 2007 and owns about 77.5% of the latter's shares.

After the merger is complete, Taro will become a privately held company and wholly owned subsidiary of Sun. Taro shareholders will receive $39.50 per share.

A cool trillion dollars. That’s what the generic industry said U.S. patients and public and private health plan payers have saved over the last decade by switching from branded to generic prescription drugs at pharmacy counters.

Looked at another way, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association trumpeted in a study released last Thursday that me-too medicines saved a half-billion dollars a day between 2002 and 2011.

Walgreens and Alliance Boots — it’s a trans-Atlantic retail pharmacy game-changer. 


As the largest single purchaser of prescription drugs in the world, with 11,000 retail pharmacies in 12 countries that currently dispense more than 260 million prescriptions a year, and a global pharmaceutical wholesale operation to match, serving more than 180,000 healthcare outlets worldwide, the new company will have a whole lot more leverage on that side of the business. 


“The dirty little secret is that the ‘how’ counts as much as the ‘what.’”

I recently interviewed a diverse group of retail executives concerning their needs and how they perceive the engagement style of their supplier partners. The comments shared were very telling and offer each of us an opportunity to look in the mirror. Are you truly being effective when you are presenting your companies innovations and business cases?

As states grapple with tight budgets, rising Medicaid costs and the anticipated expansion of Medicaid following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, policymakers should consider how community pharmacists can help reduce expenses. In addition, new evidence offers a fresh reminder of the perils of managed care in Medicaid and the need for proper oversight of managed care entities.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday morning identified the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a tax, which means the constitutionality of the healthcare-reform package cannot be addressed until after that tax is assessed.

The court did rule the health insurance mandate, a key part of the Affordable Care Act, as unconstitutional; however, the government will continue to be able to tax people for not having health insurance.

Retailers are awakening to the possibility that their sleep aids — typically merchandised near the floor level of a set synergistically near tablet pain relievers — may deserve a placement closer to eye level. It may sound cliché to characterize sleep aids as a sleeper category — that is until you look at the 11.6% trailing 52-week dollar growth, and then back down to the floor where the sleep aids are typically merchandised.




It may be more than just coincidence that Walgreens has decided to really blow the doors off of retail pharmacy in the same city that screams horsepower every year over Memorial Day weekend. Because even as those Indy 500 drivers are chugging their milk at the Brickyard, Walgreens’ pharmacists will be celebrating a victory of their own as they and their customers help redefine what “drug store” means in shopper parlance.

WINDSOR, Conn. — Top-level executives from more than a dozen major U.S. companies on Monday joined with government officials to launch a nationwide public-private sector initiative to advance employment of people with disabilities. The companies and officials plan to work together to achieve common goals, including to identify and resolve employment barriers facing people with disabilities, share experience and best practices, raise visibility around the effort and awareness of the significant benefits, and expand participation.

MONTREAL — Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has agreed to acquire a specialty oral health company that develops and commercializes products that improve and maintain oral health.

Valeant said it is acquiring OraPharma from private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners for $312 million. The drug maker also said it will pay $114 million in potential contingent payments based on certain milestones.