Content about Washington

BELLEVUE, Wash. — OraHealth has introduced a new treatment for dry mouth, the company said.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based oral health products manufacturer described XyliMelts for Dry Mouth as all-natural, oral-adhering discs that coat and soothe the mouth. The disks time-release xylitol and oral lubricant day and night to reduce tooth decay.

WASHINGTON — Most Americans who reported getting a flu shot in the past season received that vaccination in their physician's office. However, about 20% received their flu shot at a retail pharmacy and 12.6% at a walk-in clinic, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll released Friday. That suggests that as many as 18.5 million flu shots were administered to adults at retail pharmacy and another 11.7 million to adults at walk-in clinics. 

SEATTLE — A report published Monday in The Seattle Times queried whether Amazon.com was ready to take its own Internet-driven fresh offering, called AmazonFresh, out of "limited-test" mode to pilot mode or even full-out launch mode this year. 

The report noted that Amazon had initially launched the service in 2007 and now services 80 area codes. 

Washington, D.C. — Retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) will increase 3.4%, down slightly from 4.2% in 2012 and 5.8% in 2011, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2013 economic forecast.

The lukewarm forecast, released Monday, comes on the heels of a holiday season that went head-to-head with Washington’s political wrangling over fiscal concerns, shifting consumers’ spending plans downward. In the end, holiday sales in 2012 grew 3.0%.

WASHINGTON — A division of drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is partnering with an advocacy group focused on asthma in the launch of a new educational website about the condition.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and Teva Respiratory announced the launch of Get Smart About Asthma, which aims to increase understanding of how inflammation in the airways contributes to the disease's persistence and severity, as well as providing other educational materials.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A lobbying organization for independent pharmacies has launched an ad campaign in The Hill, the Washington-based daily newspaper covering Congress.

The National Community Pharmacists Association ad lays out the group's legislative agenda for the 113th Congress and the Obama administration.

LANDOVER, Md. — A supermarket chain in the Washington area is marking Inauguration Day by donating lunches to the police officers assigned to guard it.

Ahold banner Giant Food of Landover, Md. — also known as Giant-Landover to distinguish it from fellow Ahold banner Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa. — said it would donate boxed lunches and water to the 5,000 officers of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Park Police and National Park Service.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — Friends and family recommendations and the availability of samples may still be the leading purchase influencers for women looking to buy anti-aging facial skin care products. However, online sources appear to be making more of an impact compared with 2010, according to the Anti-Aging Facial Skincare Consumer Report by the NPD Group, a global information company.

WASHINGTON — The dietary supplement industry’s self-regulatory coalition, the SIDI Work Group, on Thursday announced the release of its voluntary Dietary Supplement Component Supplier Qualification Guideline — a document designed to assist the industry in supply chain integrity, which is a requirement for complying with current good manufacturing practices. 

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new rule that it said would promote consistent policies and processes for eligibility notices in Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the health insurance exchanges mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

WASHINGTON — Most U.S. moms are concerned about breastfeeding in public even though they understand that breastfeeding is the best way to feed their babies, according to the 2012 Lansinoh Breastfeeding Study released Thursday. 

“Breastfeeding in public became one of the hottest publicly debated topics in 2012," stated Gina Ciagne, senior director, professional relations at Lansinoh. "We were interested to find out how that affected moms’ decisions to breastfeed.”