Only a few months after recalling Walgreens Nice! store-brand orange slices because shards of glass might have found their way into the jars, the company is recalling jars of Nice! peach slices and mixed fruit for the same reason. [More]
Pharma Medicine
Analysis: Sudden Hearing Loss Could Be Rare Side Effect Of Viagra And Cialis
By 4.7.16
Suddenly losing your hearing with no warning is a terrifying prospect, and that’s been a known side effect of erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra and Levitra for almpst a decade, with the Food and Drug Administration publishing a warning about a possible link back in 2007. A new analysis by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices shows that while hearing loss is a very rare side effect, it is much more likely to happen when taking either of these medications. [More]
Pfizer, Allergan Call Off $160B Mega-Merger
By 4.6.16
Five months after Pfizer and Allergan announced they would combine households to create the world’s largest drug company, the betrothed say the wedding is being called off. [More]
Sure, Fine, Listerine Is A Lifestyle Brand Now
By 4.5.16
When you think of Listerine, or of any mouthwash, what comes to mind? Anything at all? That’s the challenge in marketing oral care products: people are bored with hearing about our gum health and being shamed for our bad breath, and how else can you market mouthwash? Listerine has found a way: by marketing their product as a lifestyle. [More]
Feds Say Drug Company Illegally Blocked Lower-Cost Generics From Entering Market
By 3.31.16
When a drug patent nears its end, drug companies sometimes do really stupid, potentially illegal things to delay or prevent their bottom line being dinged by a lower-cost generic version. One drug company is accused of not just paying off a generic drug maker to delay the release of its version of two medications, but further hurting consumers by agreeing to not compete with the generic. [More]
Lawsuit: CVS Told Security Guards To Watch Minority Shoppers
By 3.29.16
A year after four former CVS security workers filed a federal lawsuit against the company alleging their supervisors ordered them to keep an eye on minority shoppers at some New York City stores, another former “market investigator” in Brooklyn has levied similar allegations against the pharmacy chain in a new class-action lawsuit. [More]
U.S. Customs Officials Find 755 Pounds Of Marijuana In Shipment Of Fresh Broccoli
By 3.24.16
Perhaps one might figure that one kind of green plant matter could easily pass as another kind, say, marijuana masquerading as a shipment of fresh broccoli. They’re the same color! But U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers weren’t born yesterday, and they can tell the difference between nutritious vegetables and weed. [More]
New Warning Labels Coming To Opioid Painkillers
By 3.22.16
A week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called on physicians to stop prescribing opioid painkillers when less-problematic therapeutic treatments will do the trick, another federal agency is joining in the effort to alert consumers to the potential risks of using these frequently prescribed medications. [More]
Authorities Searching For Flight Attendant Accused Of Leaving Bag Full Of Cocaine At LAX
By 3.22.16
Although airline personnel and airport employees may not have to take off their shoes or undergo the same security procedures as travelers, there are still checks in place to keep workers from carrying whatever they want onto planes — like, say, a bag full of cocaine. [More]
Your Prescription Information Isn’t Really Private
By 3.18.16
Who sees your prescription information? No, there are more people involved than just the pharmacists and technicians at your local drugstore and your doctor and his or her employees. Information about your medications can also end up with data miners, insurance companies other than your health insurer, and companies that your pharmacy does business with. [More]
6 Things We Learned About Pharma Payments To Doctors & Name-Brand Prescriptions
By 3.18.16
In news that really isn’t at all surprising — despite repeated denials from medical professionals — a new report found that doctors’ prescription habits are often influenced by the payments they receive from pharmaceutical and device makers. [More]
Cargill Cutting Back On Antibiotics In Its Beef
By 3.9.16
While several large chicken producers and buyers have made efforts to reduce the non-medical use of antibiotics, the beef industry has not been as quick to respond to growing concern among the medical community, and consumers at large, about the overuse of these medically important drugs in cows. But beef biggie Cargill has announced a plan to cut back on the vital antibiotics it provides to its bovines. [More]
Florida Man Barred From Selling Unapproved “Natural Herpes Medicine”
By 2.26.16
Five years ago, the Food and Drug Administration first warned a Florida man to stop peddling a supposed cure for herpes until he proved it worked and was safe. He subsequently tweaked the marketing to make it less cure-like, but federal prosecutors say he still went too far in promising his supplement could treat the sexually transmitted disease. [More]
CVS Customer Buys Heating Pad, Finds Box Full Of Family Keepsakes Instead
By 2.19.16
Usually when we write about someone getting home to find out that the item they just purchased contains something unexpected, it involves an iPad box full of notepads or rocks, or a block of wood instead of a PS4. But a CVS customer in Boston got a more intriguing surprise inside her heating pad box: someone else’s family keepsakes. [More]
Walgreens Installing Drug Disposal Kiosks In 500 Stores
By 2.10.16
Do you have old and expired medicine just sitting in your medicine cabinet and you’re not quite sure how to get rid of it? Walgreens is installing kiosks in 500 stores in the hope of giving customers a way to quickly and easily dispose of their unused drugs.
[More]
Rite Aid Shareholders Vote To Approve $9.4B Merger With Walgreens
By 2.4.16
Walgreens’ path to bring Ride Aid under its wing passed one hurdle on Thursday, as shareholders for the latter chain of drug stores approved a $9.4 billion merger plan. [More]
Martin Shkreli Pleads The Fifth To Everything, Even When Asked About Wu-Tang Clan
By 2.4.16
Like a small child who refuses to eat his dinner but remains steadfast at his seat until his parents finally relent and let him go to his room, controversial pharmaceuticals investor Martin Shkreli — best known for jacking up the price of an important HIV treatment by 5,400% in a single day — sat before a Congressional panel this morning and repeatedly cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, even when it involved his expensive taste in hip-hop. [More]
CVS Unveils First Store-Within-Store Pharmacies At Target
By 2.3.16
Target customers will soon see what $1.9 billion can buy, as CVS has officially started rebranding the big box store’s pharmacies into its own mini drugstores. [More]
