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Shares of Kroger were lower Wednesday. The supermarket chain has emerged as a buyer for stores of Rite Aid. The drugstore chain is close to being acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance, but Rite Aid would have to sell off overlapping assets in order to appease regulators. Kroger looks to be the potential buyer for all of Rite-Aid's overlapping stores considering that it is well capitalized and has experience running pharmacies in its stores.

...Walgreens Boots Alliance and Prime Therapeutics rolled out a highly innovative partnership. It could have wide-ranging implications...This novel union aligns a pharmacy benefit manager, retail pharmacy chain, and health plans via joint ownership of a new mail and specialty pharmacy company. If executed properly, it will be a best-of-breed business model that could reshape the PBM and pharmacy industries. For manufacturers, organized customer management just got even more complicated...The new business could also pose a serious challenge to pure-play PBMs that lack a health insurer partner or an economically-aligned retail dispensing channel…

Celator Pharmaceuticals proudly displayed a large poster touting its experimental Vyxeos (CPX-351) medication as an effective salve for treating acute myeloid leukemia. The poster was, in fact, one of countless placards featured prominently on the exhibit floor at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting…the Celator poster managed to stick out...Vyxeos has not yet been approved to treat AML...Celator reported positive clinical trial results for the drug...But that’s not the same thing as having clearance to market a product. Unfortunately, that’s the impression regulators had after looking at the poster…As far as the Food and Drug Administration is concerned, Celator was, effectively, promoting a drug that was misbranded. And so the FDA sent the company (now Jazz Pharmaceuticals)...a letter to complain about its promotional behavior...From a public health perspective, these claims and presentations are concerning because they include representations in a promotional context regarding the safety and efficacy of an investigational new drug that has not been approved by the FDA...

Paul LeVine, vice president of Analytic Services at TrialCard, discusses how specialty pharmacies can best utilize data to improve patient outcomes.

The government has pushed the pause button on plans to implement a 6 percent cut to community pharmacy funding from October...In a speech to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Annual Conference, Pharmacy Minister David Mowat explained that the delay is to "make sure that we are making the correct decision and that what we do is going to be right for you, right for the NHS and right for the public."...Earlier this year, the Local Government Association - which represents more than 370 councils – warned that community pharmacies are at risk of going out of business because of planned budget cuts, which could potentially pull the plug on a vital lifeline for many elderly and vulnerable patients...Sandra Gidley, Chair of the RPS English Pharmacy Board, also welcomed the Minister's speech, noting: "I am heartened that a second look is being taken at the proposed community pharmacy cuts and that the Minister has recognised the strength of public feeling on the issue"...Around 1.6 million people visit pharmacies every day for treatment and advice, and there is widespread belief that the service could play a much greater role in helping to address some of the NHS' current challenges...

... cells generally like having company, forming communities with other cell types to make complete tissues. However, quite often, researchers isolate cells from their 3-D environments, creating 2-D models that don’t always replicate complex biology...But now, an entire industry is emerging to recapitulate various tissues more realistically. 3-D bioprinting has the capacity to layer different cell types, creating more biologically accurate liver, kidney, skin and even tumor tissues. The hope is that more lifelike tissues will produce better scientific results...Organovo is the leader in 3-D bioprinting...The...company has been selling 3-D liver tissue to pharma companies for about 18 months and is about to expand into kidney tissue. The goal is to support drug development by using these 3-D models to gauge toxicity...Kidney and liver toxicology studies are required for every product before it goes into humans....The high costs of clinical trials could eventually make this a go-to technology for pharma and biotech, providing better data to spot toxicity early and avoid costly mistakes…

Physicians expect pharmaceutical companies to provide more beyond-the-pill services, as they face increasing pressure from empowered patients as well as accountable care organizations and integrated delivery networks...The report...found that 46% of the physicians it surveyed expect drugmakers to provide beyond-the-pill services, and 34% have used a beyond-the-pill service from a pharma company...Here are three key insights for pharma marketers to take note of:

1. Drugmakers should provide more than just product information on their websites.
2. Physicians are more likely to prescribe a product if it comes with beyond-the-pill services.
3. Sales reps should be leveraged to engage physicians.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals is facing two lawsuits relating to its pricing of EpiPen treatments for life-threatening anaphylactic shock...One suit…in an Ohio...alleges that the company’s price increases — which brought the list price up to about $600 for two EpiPens — violated the state’s consumer protection law..."Defendant has a legal duty and obligation to set a fair, affordable, and reasonable [price] and not hold consumers hostage by forcing them to pay exorbitant prices for its medically necessary product," the complaint states...Another lawsuit was filed...in Michigan and focuses on Mylan’s practice of selling EpiPens in the United States only in packs of two. The plaintiffs allege that Mylan packages EpiPens that way for marketing reasons, not for health and safety reasons..."Defendants have misstated the science regarding, and regulatory framework governing EpiPens in order to require consumers to buy extra, unneeded EpiPens, which are likely to go to waste, at an inflated cost," the complaint states...Mylan is also the subject of investigation by the New York Attorney General for potential antitrust violations...

There is a real need for patients to have information about out-of-pocket costs and clinical tools being used when it comes to their coverage. A new prescription drug search tool that includes information about cost sharing, prior authorization and step therapy will be available to residents of Washington, D.C., shopping for coverage during the upcoming open enrollment period. These types of tools are important for patients, enabling them to find the best health care plan to meet their needs...DC Health Link’s new offering will allow patients in D.C. purchasing private health insurance to input up to 10 prescriptions and see which plans cover their drugs and the cost sharing that goes with them...The new DC Health Link tool also improves transparency and information about deductibles. One feature allows people to clearly see plan details, including whether available plans have a separate drug deductible, whether a medication is subject to a copayment or coinsurance and copayment amounts and coinsurance percentages...While progress continues to make marketplace websites more consumer friendly, additional improvements are still necessary to ensure consumers have a clear understanding of the choices in front of them when picking a health plan...

A top pharmaceutical lobbying group is launching an ad campaign to defend drugmakers that have been under fire for their pricing practices..."We’re under pressure and scrutiny like never before," said Jim Greenwood, chief executive officer of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. The campaign, called "Innovation Saves," says new drugs can save both lives and costs to the health-care system...BIO is trying to reshape perceptions after a year of finger-pointing among insurers, drugmakers and health-care providers about why the medical system is so expensive..."This campaign is about defending the indefensible: astronomical price increases, drug pricing gimmicks, and massive cost increases," Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement. "The way that the pharmaceutical industry can show real innovation is by embracing solutions that make treatments and cures affordable to every patient."...