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WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Just days after Drug Store News reported — once again — that 2012 is proving to be a significant year for the convenient care industry, yet another turn of events further solidified what we’ve been saying for quite some time.

(THE NEWS: Report: South Carolina allowing clinics to enroll as providers in Medicaid. For the full story, click here.)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Since the development of the first smallpox vaccine in 1796, vaccines have saved countless lives around the world and helped to make such deadly scourges as smallpox and polio things of the past.

(THE NEWS: PhRMA report lists almost 300 vaccines under development. For the full story, click here.)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The regulatory review of the Express Scripts-Medco merger now is in its final stages, and with the clock ticking down to that 30-day deadline, you can expect a full court-press from retail pharmacy interests looking to block the deal. The time for the three-point finesse shots from the corners of the court has passed, it's now time to charge the net and jam the message home; an Express Scripts-Medco merger is bad both for the retail pharmacy business and for consumers. However, it just might be good for CVS Caremark.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Retail pharmacy has long fought for a level playing field when competing with mail order, and that's what N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo handed them last week. No longer will patients be funneled into filling their prescriptions at the mail order pharmacy. And no longer will insurance companies be able to exempt patients from making the same co-payment as they do at retail. At least not in New York.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — If you want to change any kind of misguided perception that pharmacists are mere pill-counters and quality assurance specialists who stand behind a counter with a team of pharmacy technicians, then you've got to do something dramatic. Placing the pharmacist front and center in an "information booth" armed with a technophile-friendly iPad who is proactively interacting with patients — that's dramatic.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The U.S. Department of Justice may have once and for all exposed the man behind the curtain, revealing many online Canadian pharmacies for what they really are: drug pushers taking advantage of Americans in search of cheaper health care. And in doing so, the Justice Department may be uncovering a bigger issue: the creeping 15% of counterfeits worldwide that gradually are cracking the U.S. drug distribution system.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Purchase frequency in the drug channel is up 6.7%. Sounds good, right? More shoppers buying more often — that's the end-game, isn't it? Except not so fast, because the real question is whether or not higher frequency of purchases actually translates into greater revenue streams. And, given the rocky road that America's now-you-see-it-now-you-don't recovery has traveled of late, more shoppers may in fact be buying more often, but they actually may be spending less. 

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Does Family Dollar's expansion of health and beauty items, which contributed to its overall inventory growth during the third quarter, and Ulta's plan to create men's grooming boutiques within most of its nearly 400 stores mean a new competitive threat for drug stores?

(THE NEWS: Inventories swell as Family Dollar boosts beauty. For the full story, click here.)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Patent settlements between branded and generic drug companies, sometimes called “pay-for-delay” deals, aren’t going away any time soon.

(THE NEWS: Report: Banning 'pay for delay' settlements likely won't happen. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The news that San Francisco's board of supervisors gave preliminary approval to ban tobacco sales at all retailers that operate pharmacies, including mass merchants and grocers, is a step in the right direction, because if drug stores are going to be banned from selling them, then all retail pharmacy outlets should be banned. However, there's an even bigger picture to consider.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT The whole discussion around SKU rationalization -- or SKU optimization, depending upon your spin -- boils down to just one question: Just exactly how brand loyal is today’s shopper?

(THE NEWS: Report: Jewel-Osco SKU rationalization taken to new heights. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY ITS IMPORTANT Some investors quoted in published reports foresee huge gains for such retail pharmacy chains as CVS and Walgreens, as blockbuster drugs like Pfizer’s Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Sanofi-Aventis’ and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate) come off patent and face generic competition, but they would do well to remember an important factor: the patent cliff.