Here are seven events guaranteed to be resolved, debated, dismissed or disregarded in the chain drug industry over the course of 2010. 1. CVS Caremark will finally begin to get the Caremark part of that designation right by taking advantage of many of the synergies between the PBM and the drug chain that have thus
The political landscape that retail pharmacy advocates will have to traverse has grown considerably more complex in recent weeks with the surprising victory of Republican Scott Brown in the race for the Senate seat that had been held by Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, for 47 years, and the Obama administration’s proposed budget, a document
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The editors of Chain Drug Review have named Tom Ryan, chairman, president and chief executive officer of CVS Caremark Corp., the publication’s Chain Drug Retailer of the Decade. The choice was not a difficult one to make. Indeed, the decade that began on January 1, 2000, and ended five weeks ago produced
CHICAGO — Walgreen Co. is poised to emerge from the economic downturn stronger than ever, its executives told investors at the company’s annual meeting last month. The 7,150-store drug chain says that such initiatives as its remodeled stores and localized selection should push shoppers to buy more, and its continuing expansion into broader health care
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Following a pattern of augmenting its presence in important markets through the acquisition of strong regional drug chains, Walgreen Co. has agreed to purchase the pharmacy business and other assets of 25 Snyders Drug Stores locations in Minnesota. Financial terms of the transaction between the nation’s biggest drug chain and St. Louis
CAMP HILL, Pa. — Bryan Shirtliff has been named senior vice president of business development at Rite Aid Corp., a new position. Shirtliff, who joined Rite Aid in 1998, had been senior vice president of category management. In the new post, he will be charged with developing merchandising initiatives to support the chain’s store segmentation
NEW YORK — Chain drug retailers have stepped up their inoculation services in recent weeks, as supplies of the H1N1 flu vaccine have become more readily available. At the same time, some health officials have reported that the public’s interest in getting vaccinated has lagged, and many Americans believe that the danger posed by the
NEW YORK — The chain drug industry has responded to the Haiti earthquake disaster with cash donations and measures to enable employees and customers to donate individually to relief efforts. Walgreen Co., for example, has donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross and will match employee donations dollar for dollar up to $50,000. The company
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. has warned that it intends to withdraw more than half of its pharmacies in Washington from the state’s Medicaid program on February 15, in response to reimbursement cutbacks. Walgreens, which operates 121 pharmacies in Washington, intends to withdraw 64 of its pharmacies from the state’s Medicaid program. The company says
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark Corp. has added an e-commerce dimension to its Beauty 360 prestige beauty care stores. As a result, customers nationwide can shop a wide array of prestige brands from beauty360.com. CVS operates eight Beauty 360 locations around the country and intends to open additional locations this year. The stores carry upscale
Like most successful business executives, Tom Ryan is ambivalent about praise. On the one hand, he’s fully aware of his considerable accomplishments over 16 years as the chief executive officer of CVS and, more to the point, during the first 10 years of the 21st century, a period of achievement that has earned him Chain
The sale of most of the assets of Snyders Drug Stores to Walgreens and the planned closure of the balance of the corporately owned outlets in the chain once again brings to the fore the difficulties regional operators confront in an era when the community pharmacy business is national in scope and ambition. Executives at
WASHINGTON — Democrats in the House and the Senate are now working to reconcile their visions of health care reform legislation, hoping to pass a final bill before President Obama’s State of the Union address. As expected, the Senate passed its version of the bill in a 60-39 party-line vote on Christmas Eve. “We are
