Donald Trump briefly touched on the pharmaceutical industry in his first major press conference since being elected president. In the news conference yesterday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Trump talked about drug companies relocating overseas and referred to the rising cost of pharmaceuticals. “We’ve got to get our drug industry back,” Trump said after discussing
It looks like the nearly two-and-a-half-year run of former Procter & Gamble chairman and CEO Robert McDonald as Secretary of Veterans Affairs is coming to an end. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated David Shulkin, currently undersecretary for health at VA, to take the reins from McDonald, who has served as VA secretary since the
Not long after changing its identity to The Nature’s Bounty Co. from NBTY Inc., Nature’s Bounty may be on the block. Parent company The Carlyle Group is mulling a possible sale of the vitamins and dietary supplements brand, Bloomberg News reported. Citing anonymous sources, the Bloomberg article said Carlyle has consulted potential advisers about selling
In this era of high-cost health care, here’s something you don’t hear about much: free medications. Well, that notion has been a success story at Meijer. The supercenter retailer, which has more than 200 pharmacy locations, said it has served up $500 million in savings for customers and filled almost 40 million scripts via its
Not all pharmacy patient reviews are the same, according to digital health specialist RxWiki. The Austin, Texas-based company, known for its Digital Pharmacist software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, on Thursday said it has launched Patient Verified Reviews. The service enables pharmacy patients to rate their pharmacy after submitting a prescription refill through a website or mobile app powered
Though Fred’s name came up in the buzz surrounding the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger talks with the FTC, the Southeastern retailer’s move to buy 865 Rite Aid stores for $950 million in cash from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) still was surprising. After all, not even two weeks ago, Fred’s reported poor third-quarter results (including a net
This holiday shopping season has seen another upsurge in consumer purchases via digital shopping channels, especially mobile. A key driver behind that trend is increased use of and response to beacon technology. One tech provider, Venice, Calif.-based inMarket Media, said its beacon platform — spurred by the rising use of mobile shopping — influenced $14.5
The “pending transaction” that Fred’s Inc. mentioned in its third-quarter conference call has stirred up some speculation that the Southeastern discount and pharmacy retailer could be sold. Investor website TheStreet.com reported on Monday that Fred’s “may finally be a willing seller.” Industry observers’ first impression after Fred’s Q3 call — in which the company took
Chain drug industry watchers have kept hearing and reading the scuttlebutt about the closing of the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger deal. But a report late Friday afternoon suggested that approval of the $17.2 billion transaction may be imminent. Investor website Seeking Alpha reported that Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is slated to have a package of store
The Bartell family, owners of the Seattle-area chain Bartell Drugs, this week received some well-earned recognition for their dedication to the community and business heritage. Seattle Business magazine presented the Bartells with the 2016 Washington Family Business Award for Legacy in an event Wednesday evening at Seattle’s Westin Hotel. Eleven other Washington family enterprises —
Even with all the data and analytics tools available, getting a bead on today’s consumer isn’t easy. Mobile devices and apps, beacons, digital marketing, evolving store formats, ship-to-store, lifestyle-focused customer rewards, changing behaviors in health care and diet, chip-based payment cards, personalization, etc., etc. have turned retailing on its ear. And it’s only going to
CVS Health returned fire to rising competition (read: Walgreens) in the pharmacy network arena with this week’s announcement of its 90-day-at retail program with OptumRx, Wolfe Research analyst Scott Mushkin said. Under the CVS-OptumRx partnership, OptumRx members will be able to fill 90-day prescriptions at mail-order co-pays at any CVS Pharmacy, as well as via
These days, former Apple and PepsiCo CEO John Sculley is being inspired by health care — and more specifically, pharmacy care. Technology-led PBM RxAdvance last week announced Sculley as its chairman and chief marketing officer. The move expands his role at the company, where he’s a founding investor and had served as vice chairman. “Convincing
CVS Health’s scaled-back 2017 guidance, given in its third-quarter report this week, spotlights an intensifying competitive battle with rival Walgreens Boots Alliance. CVS reported that for fiscal 2017 it expects to lose over 40 million retail prescriptions due to marketplace changes, notably narrower retail pharmacy networks excluding CVS Pharmacy drug stores. The announcement sent CVS
