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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s deal to acquire Rite Aid Corp. is expected to draw antitrust scrutiny not only because the company would grow to 12,700 locations, but because of what goes on behind the scenes with drug payments…Federal Trade Commission…will look closely at whether the merging of the No. 1 and No. 3 pharmacy chains in the U.S. will lead to higher prices for prescription drugs...the FTC will probably review the approximately $9.4 billion deal market-by-market instead of on a national basis, since CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Rite Aid together control only about half of the U.S. retail pharmacy market...The rest is held by independent stores, smaller chains and mail-order companies. Walgreens is likely to sell or shutter some stores...

George Paz’s strategy to rein in drug companies’ price increases is starting to show results. A new analysis shows that attempts by drugmakers to raise prices on their prescription medications are being wiped out in negotiations with managers of drug insurance benefits, led…Express Scripts Holding Co.,.. While list prices for drugs continue to rise rapidly,…U.S. brand-name drug prices rose just 0.7 percent in the second quarter from the previous year…. That’s because companies like Express Scripts and CVS have embarked on strategies to exclude big-selling treatments from lists of covered drugs unless their makers offer better prices...

Sales at CVS Health are getting "smoked."… CVS became the first major pharmacy chain in America to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in its stores. The drug store chain said it was the right thing to do -- even though it would hurt sales….prescription sales continue to rise, general merchandise sales tumbled nearly 8% last quarter on a same-store basis.

When the Drug Enforcement Administration announced last year that pharmacies nationwide could accept and destroy customers’ unwanted prescription drugs, experts in substance abuse called it a significant step toward easing the painkiller and heroin epidemic…the response has been insignificant…about 1 percent of American pharmacies have set up disposal programs, with none of those belonging to the two largest chains, CVS and Walgreens, which have balked at the cost and security risks… at least eight states, including New York, have laws that forbid pharmacies to take back controlled substances…D.E.A. has held 10 so-called take-back days — with the latest on Sept. 26 — these have collected 2,400 tons of pills, limited research suggests that the vast majority are non-controlled medications…

CVS opened its first local Minute Clinic in 2007 in its pharmacy on the Strip near the Monte Carlo. To date, it has 11 Minute Clinics throughout Nevada, eight in Las Vegas and three in the Reno/Sparks area. All clinics are open seven days a week with weekend and early evening hours available...Walgreens has 13 clinics in the Las Vegas area, none in Northern Nevada. And like CVS, its clinics are open seven days a week with similar hours of operation. From 50 clinics in 2007, the pharmacy has grown that number to 400 nationally.

California State Board of Pharmacy has suspended the license of a pharmacy technician who was revealed to have stolen the protected health information of approximately 100 patients....data theft was uncovered during a Secret Service raid at the apartment of Nicole Yvonne Flores...

"Jiffy" health care clinics represent one of the fastest-growing sectors of the health care industry, providing quick, convenient, and affordable primary care services without the long waits and higher costs of traditional family practices…In-and-out health clinics exist in states across the country and are often located inside pharmacies, such as CVS and Walgreens, as well as in grocery stores and large retail stores…more than ever, patients are looking for convenient and inexpensive ways to receive care, and the model utilized by in-and-out health facilities offers a seemingly perfect solution.

CVS Health Corp, the No 2 manager of drug benefit plans for U.S. employers and insurers, will wait until a second new cholesterol-lowering drug is approved by regulators before negotiating for price discounts or adding either of the much pricer new drugs to its list of covered medications.

Express Scripts has been named the worst company to work for in the United States, while CVS ranked 12th on the same list.  24/7 Wall St. compiled the rankings using data from career website Glassdoor, which gathers ratings on more than 400,000 companies globally.