- Walgreens Tops Estimates as Prescriptions Make Up for Retail (bloomberg.com)
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. beat analysts’ earnings estimates of fiscal first-quarter earnings estimates, as strong prescription drug trends made up for a retail slump that continues to affect the company...Walgreens drew in shoppers with a better experience and more high-end products after renovating its stores. In the U.S., the drugstore chain’s biggest market, same-store retail shrank fell 0.6 percent in the quarter ended Nov. 30 compared with a year before, Walgreens said in a statement Thursday. It’s a lackluster figure that hasn’t kept up with gains in the prescription drug dispensing business.
- drugstore sales were $20.4 billion, up 4.2 percent from a year ago.
- same-store sales rose 5.8 percent, with pharmacy sales gaining 9.3 percent and retail declining 0.6 percent, Walgreens said, “primarily due to a reduction in unprofitable promotions and the transitioning of seasonal items away from holiday decorations and toward higher quality, giftable items.”
- pharmacies filled 231 million prescriptions in the quarter, up 4.1 percent from a year ago.
- Total sales were $29 billion, up 48 percent, thanks to the merger of Walgreen Co. and Alliance Boots GmbH in Dec. 2014.
- The company raised the low end of its earnings guidance for fiscal year 2016 by 5 cents, to $4.30 to $4.55 per adjusted share.
“Any kind of vertical integration is good,” though Walgreens is focused on digesting its current acquisitions...In October, the company agreed to acquire Rite Aid Corp. for about $9.4 billion and expects the deal to close in the second half of 2016.
- Pharmacy Week in Review: January 8, 2016 (pharmacytimes.com)
Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more. (video)
- Online Tool Compares Healthcare Stats Across Nevada (kunr.org)Nevada Instant Atlas, Nevada's County-Level Health Database (medicine.nevada.edu)
A new online tool is offering healthcare data that's broken down for each Nevada county. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Billman reports the database provides snapshots on how different counties compare on everything from their healthcare workforce to how many of their residents have health insurance…The project is called the Nevada Instant Atlas and it looks at healthcare indicators, including population demographics like income. It also profiles the overall health of people in a given area, along with their access, or lack of access, to medical specialists.
- China continues to fine-tune drug, food safety procedures (fiercepharmaasia.com)
The government of China continues to refine its legal powers to deal with drug safety issues, according to a release from the country's Supreme Court that says investigations will be streamlined to identify administrative cases that potentially involve major criminal breaches...The new measures are designed to "facilitate coordination between administrative and judicial organs in handling food and drug safety cases," according to a report from the Shanghai Daily...The China Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the executive office of the food safety commission under the State Council, China's cabinet, said the measures will "streamline" standards and procedures and will include the possibility of suspected drug cases being transferred from administrative bodies such as the CFDA to police...These latest moves are an attempt by Chinese officials to bring trust to the "Made in China" label because most Chinese prefer foreign-made drugs which they believe are higher quality. Several Chinese and Indian companies in recent months have been slammed by regulatory authorities in the United States and Europe over lapses in good manufacturing practices and outright fraud in many cases where test results were falsified.
- HHS And CVS Health Partner To Promote Consumer-Centered Preventive Services (healthaffairs.org)
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and CVS Health recently formed a public-private partnership. This partnership aims to increase awareness of the availability of convenient, consumer-centered, recommended preventive services using healthfinder.gov. Healthfinder.gov is a source of easy-to-use prevention and wellness information, designed using health literacy and usability principles...CVS Health, recognizing the important role of informing and engaging patients about preventive care...integrated the myhealthfinder API into the MinuteClinic website in a pilot project conducted jointly with the healthfinder.gov team at the ODPHP...we expect individuals to become more informed and active consumers of clinical preventive services...To extend the reach of federal programs that improve health literacy, and encourage prevention and healthy behaviors...the HHS and CVS Health collaboration could be a model for other retail clinics…Because of retail pharmacies’ consumer and convenience focus, and their important role in connecting patients to and sustaining their relationships with primary physicians, retail pharmacies add valuable perspective and insight to the assessment of preventive care.
- IBM’s Watson scores deals in fitness, medical and robotics (news.investors.com)
IBM's cognitive computing system, Watson, has graduated from winning "Jeopardy" to predicting hypoglycemic events for diabetes patients and providing the brains for a customer service robot…IBM CEO Ginni Rometty discussed three partnerships involving IBM's Watson during her keynote speech at CES 2016 (Consumer Electronics Show ) on Wednesday in Las Vegas…Rometty talked about how Medtronic, Under Armour and SoftBank Robotics are using Watson's big data analytics capabilities in vastly different ways.
- Medtronic…is using Watson technology for diabetes management. In a new app rolling out this summer, medical technology firm Medtronic will track a diabetes patient's blood-sugar levels and predict life-threatening hypoglycemic events up to three hours in advance of symptoms.
- Under Armour…hooked up to IBM's Watson because he wanted his customers to get more meaningful data-backed health and fitness insights…The company's UA Record app will provide athletes with timely, evidence-based coaching around their sleep, fitness, activity and nutrition, including outcomes achieved based on others "like you."
- Watson also is providing artificial intelligence for a social humanoid robot called Pepper from SoftBank Robotics. Pepper currently is being used as a customer service robot in a limited number of Mizuho Financial Group's bank branches and Nestle coffee shops in Japan.
- Pathway Genomics unveiled a test version of the Pathway Genomics OME app, powered by Watson. The app merges cognitive computing and deep learning with precision medicine and genetics to enable Pathway Genomics to provide consumers with personalized wellness information...
- Nevada Rural Health Day celebrated with grand opening (medicine.nevada.edu)
The School of Medicine celebrated Nevada Rural Health Day with the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new residents' clinic at Humboldt General Hospital in Winnemucca, Nevada on Nov. 20, 2015…The event was marked by the reading of a proclamation from the Governor's Office, the showing of a video produced by PBS Las Vegas entitled "A Day in the Life of a Resident," and remarks by leaders of the School of Medicine, Humboldt General Hospital and the Mayor of Winnemucca before the ribbon was cut on the new clinical spaces and tours were offered…The School of Medicine Las Vegas Family Medicine Residency Program offers physicians the chance to complete the last two years of their residency training at Humboldt General Hospital while offering them the opportunity to provide primary care to underserved communities.
- Indiana bill encourages sale of meth-resistant PSE products (drugstorenews.com)
Community Pharmacies of Indiana...announced the organization's unanimous decision to support Senate Bill 80, also known as the Pharmacist Legitimization Bill...as a method to control the sale of pseudoephedrine products and decrease meth manufacturing in Indiana without requiring a prescription and unfairly penalizing law-abiding customers...Under the bill, cold medicines containing single-ingredient PSE, such as Sudafed, will remain available for behind-the-counter sales without a prescription. The bill would enable pharmacists to briefly consult with customers seeking products containing single-ingredient PSE, inquiring about symptoms and potentially recommending effective, non-prescription PSE products that contain meth-resistant safeguards, such as Nexafed and Zephrex-D…The bill would also grant pharmacists the legal protection to decline potentially illegitimate sales of PSE products that lack meth-resistant features where appropriate...Pharmacist Legitimization Bill represents common-sense legislation that balances efforts to help curtail the proliferation of meth labs throughout our state while also preserving the customer's ease-of-access to effective cold medicines for legitimate use without the burden of obtaining a prescription every time they have a head-cold…
- Docket Alarm Launches Suite of Tools for Orange Book Litigators (prweb.com)Orange Book (fda.gov)
Docket Alarm’s new suite of tools has components that help give Orange Book litigators a competitive edge…the first legal research platform to provide Orange Book litigators a suite of tools for their practice. The features include the ability to track changes to the Orange Book and related litigation, search correspondence between drug companies and the FDA, and analytics on Orange Book cases in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board…The "Orange Book,"…is the authoritative resource on FDA approved drugs for patent litigators. When a drug company wins FDA approval for a new drug, they submit an Orange Book listing detailing applicable patents covering the new drug and the drug’s labeling. Generic drug manufacturers engage in patent litigation with the branded company over whether the patents listed in the Orange Book are valid and properly cover the corresponding drug.
- FDA sues to stop a wayward drug compounder (statnews.com)
After nearly three years of sparring with a recalcitrant compounder, the Food and Drug Administration has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to prevent Downing Labs from continuing operations. And the compounder agreed to a consent decree, which requires the company to take various steps before operations can resume...In the lawsuit, the agency cited numerous violations of so-called good manufacturing practices and several issued warnings to the company...about its failure to comply with regulations. Most recently, the Dallas-based compounder, which in 2014 refused to an FDA request to recall some products, failed yet another FDA inspection...the FDA inspectors found unsanitary conditions, according to the lawsuit...tests...found traces of...bacteria which, “if introduced into the body, can cause septic shock, pneumonia, and urinary tract infections,” the lawsuit stated...the Drug Quality and Security Act was passed to, in part, bolster compounding oversight. In fact, the FDA cited the defiant posture taken by Downing as an example of why a new law was needed to allow the agency to bolster its oversight and pursue legal options when compounders refused to upgrade operations.