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CVS reported first quarter financial results premarket Wednesday fresh off closing some of its biggest acquisitions since its $70 billion megamerger with insurer Aetna in 2018...The retail health giant tied up its $10.6 billion acquisition of value-based medical group Oak Street Health...and completed its $7.8 billion acquisition of home care provider Signify Health in March. The acquisitions are meant to advance CVS’ value-based strategy in primary care and home health...READ MORE

CVS Health is investing $12.4 million to build 60 units of affordable housing in south Phoenix...The development will be built in a neighborhood where 79% of residents identify as Black or Latino...The funding is part of CVS' commitment to invest $600 million over five years to address racial inequality and the social determinants of health in Black communities..."When people have access to high-quality, affordable housing and services like preventive screenings, it puts them in a better position to take care of their health and manage chronic disease," said David Casey, senior vice president and chief diversity officer at CVS Health...READ MORE

CVS Health is planning to double the number of its drive-thru testing sites by mid-October, the healthcare giant announced...CVS intends to add more than 2,000 sites at its pharmacies in the next several weeks, bringing its total to more than 4,000 nationwide. The new locations will be opened in waves, beginning with 400 new sites opening on Friday...READ MORE

Expectations were high last year for three new migraine drugs hitting the market from Amgen Inc, Eli Lilly and Co and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries...But a small group of external medical experts who quietly advise U.S. health insurers on new drugs was not impressed, according to a private meeting held at UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx offices...These relatively unknown expert committees have been involved in drug coverage decisions for decades. Their identities are kept secret due to federal regulations aimed at preventing pharmaceutical industry interference. The committees make their decisions based on a drug’s clinical value, independent of cost, pharmacy benefit managers say. But their power has grown more recently with the consolidation of most of the U.S. pharmacy benefits business under OptumRx, CVS and Express Scripts. Taken together, their three advisory committees now guide drug coverage for more than 90 million Americans...READ MORE

CVS Health has asked Gov. Phil Scott to veto H.353 — a last-ditch effort to block a bill it says would raise prescription drug costs for Vermonters with private insurance...H.353 started out as a bill to make drugs more affordable by regulating pharmacy benefits managers, third-party companies that negotiate medication coverage plans for consumers with private insurers. But revisions of the bill, as it worked its way through the House and Senate, would have all but guaranteed that specialty drug prescriptions given to patients in health care settings, including expensive cancer medication, would be filled at the University of Vermont Health Network’s pharmacy in Burlington, rather than through cheaper mail-order pharmacies that insurers prefer...READ MORE

Dozens of pharmacy chains and grocery stores with pharmacy counters are slated to start offering COVID-19 vaccinations this week, creating a wealth of employment opportunities. The companies are vying with one another—offering lucrative signing bonuses, in some cases—to hire established pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, student pharmacists, nurses, and other help. CVS Health is working toward 15,000 new vaccine-related hires, Walgreens has targeted 9,000, Kroger plans to recruit nearly 1,000 health care workers, and Rite Aid is looking to fill more than 2,000 pharmacy jobs...READ MORE

The Zantac recall is quickly turning into a landslide as CVS pulled Zantac and its generics from its shelves and countries from Korea to Bangladesh asked makers to remove ranitidine drugs from their markets...CVS Sunday said it was suspending sales of all Zantac brand and CVS Health brand ranitidine products until further notice. That came despite the fact the FDA has yet to seek the recall of the products or recommend that patients quit taking the heartburn med after it warned a suspected carcinogen has been found in them...FDA alerted the public Sept. 13 that it had been determined that NDMA could be produced during the manufacturing of ranitidine drugs. At the time, it said the amounts found in the drugs appeared to be less than would be found in common foods, and their risks seemed small...READ MORE

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said...in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis...Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, their attorney said...The counties were able to convince the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities...READ MORE

Americans living or working in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted care living centers, will receive COVID-19 vaccinations for free if and when they become available, the Trump administration said...The administration announced a partnership with the nation's two largest drug store chains, CVS and Walgreens, "to provide and administer" the vaccines with "no out-of-pocket costs" for the recipients...READ MORE

CVS has a plan to win over millennials and it looks a lot like Amazon Prime: free home delivery of products...CVS announced...its CarePass program will expand nationwide...Pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens are fighting to stay relevant as consumers...shop online more and in physical stores less. Their business models rely on people buying toothpaste, vitamins and other convenience items in addition to filling their prescriptions...READ MORE