BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart and Humana Inc. will offer the least expensive nationwide Medicare Part D prescription plan. Called the Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan, the prescription program will be offered in all 50 states and the District of Columbia at a monthly premium of $14.80. Medicare recipients can sign up for the plan from November
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Pharmaceutical industry veteran Jeffrey Berkowitz has joined Walgreen Co. as senior vice president of pharmaceutical development and market access. He reports to Kermit Crawford, president of Walgreens’ pharmacy services division. Berkowitz will be responsible for the overall pharmacy contracting strategy for the company on the pharmaceutical manufacturing and the retail payer sides.
NEW YORK — Chain drug stores as a group have seen pharmacy customer satisfaction climb, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 National Pharmacy Study. The annual survey measures customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies. Brick-and-mortar pharmacies include chain drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchandisers (discount stores and warehouse clubs). The 2010 study
WASHINGTON — The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) has chosen Scott Melville, senior vice president for government affairs at the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA), to succeed Linda Suydam as president. Suydam is retiring from CHPA after eight years with the trade group. Plans call for Melville to assume his new position on November 1.
LONGUEUIL, Quebec — The Jean Coutu Group has unveiled in Beloeil, Quebec, its first “green” store, built according to what the retailer says are environmental protection standards. Coutu invested $4 million (Canadian) to complete the project, in which the 14,000-square-foot pharmacy is designed according to the latest Coutu concept. Environmental measures adopted to build the
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration and drug regulators in Europe have restricted the sale of Avandia, the controversial diabetes medicine marketed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) that has been linked to significant heart risks. The drug’s sales are being suspended entirely in Europe, while patients in the United States will be allowed access to
CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. is kicking off several initiatives to help the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA’s) national Stop Diabetes campaign. The 4,700-store drug chain is offering incentives for patients to take diabetes risk tests, distributing diabetes guides at all of its pharmacy counters and hosting more than 1,200 free diabetes clinics during
RALEIGH, N.C. — Kerr Drug has debuted a free prescription delivery service to patients’ homes and offices. The service, which is available from Kerr’s 22 stores in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, is not limited to the delivery of prescription drugs. The retailer says that almost every other product it offers in its stores can be
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Michael Wysong has been appointed chief executive officer of Care Pharmacies Inc., an independent pharmacy franchisor. “We are excited to have Wysong join the Care team,” comments Care Pharmacies board chairman Molly Carr. “We are confident that his knowledge of community pharmacy will recharge the Care brand, maximizing our unique position within
ARLINGTON, Va. — Pharmaceutical sales through primary health care distributors climbed to nearly $263 billion in 2009, says a recent report from the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA). According to the report, released last month by the Center for Healthcare Supply Chain Research, HDMA’s research foundation, primary distributors now account for nearly 86% of drug
It is very much in the way of things that most people now working in chain drug retailing have never heard of Frank Shanower. What brings him to mind at this late date — almost 20 years after he left the drug chain he helped build into an iconic retailer — is the fact that
The Drug Enforcement Administration late last month sponsored a program to remove dangerous drugs from communities across the country. The “Take-Back” day, which involved government, law enforcement, public health and community groups in more than 3,400 localities, was part of a broader initiative to reduce the availability of substances that can be abused and, in
