If the giant pharmaceutical companies of the world seem quite big enough to you already, well, that just means you probably aren’t a major investor in or CEO of one. But the major investors and CEOs do think bigger is better, and so to that end two of them are merging to create an even bigger drug behemoth and take it overseas. [More]
Pharma Medicine
Is Your Thanksgiving Turkey On Drugs?
By 11.20.15
We’ve written before about the overuse of antibiotics in turkeys and how it contributes to the development of drug-resistant bacteria, and some companies have pledged to cut down on the amount of unnecessary antibiotics they feed to their birds. But was the turkey you’re planning to carve up next Thursday raised using these and other potentially harmful drugs? [More]
CVS Will Limit Teens To Buying One Shot Of Boozy Laxative At A Time
By 11.10.15
We recently told you about the “Homeopathic Constipation Relief” on sale at CVS and how it’s really nothing more than a 40-proof shot of booze and water that anyone can purchase without ID. While the drugstore chain is continuing to sell the product — which, again, contains nothing but alcohol and water — it is telling employees to set a one-drink maximum on underage customers. [More]
If Walgreens And Rite Aid Merge, Thousands Of Stores Might Close
By 11.5.15
Last week, Walgreens Boots Alliance, the parent company of this country’s top drugstore chain, announced that pending antitrust approval, it would buy the #3 chain, Rite Aid, for $9.4 billion. That would create two massive national drugstore chains, and also leave a lot of empty stores. One estimate is that 3,000 stores would close… not necessarily for antitrust reasons, but because the stores are simply too close together. [More]
Walgreens Customers Using Apple Pay Don’t Have To Swipe Their Rewards Cards Anymore
By 11.5.15
Walgreens shoppers using Apple Pay at the checkout will have a slightly quicker experience than other loyalty members, as the retailer becomes the first to integrate its rewards program with the mobile payment system. [More]
Senate Investigating Drug Companies Behind Huge Overnight Price Hikes
By 11.5.15
A handful of pharmaceutical investors have been snapping up the rights to previously affordable prescription drugs, only to immediately raise prices to the point where patients now pay hundreds of dollars for a single pill — resulting in huge additional costs for consumers, insurers, and healthcare providers. Not only has this practice drawn the ire of the medical community, it’s also resulted in a Senate committee investigation. [More]
Pharma Biggie Hit With $125M Penalty For Illegal Kickbacks To Doctors, Falsified Insurance Forms
By 10.29.15
A subsidiary of multibillion-dollar international pharmaceuticals company Allergan has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of healthcare fraud and pay $125 million to close the books on criminal and civil liability claims tied to the subsidiary’s illegal marketing activities for seven different name-brand prescription drugs. [More]
Teen Shoppers Can Get Drunk Without ID On CVS Homeopathic Laxative
By 10.28.15
CVS might have stopped selling cigarettes, but you can still buy booze at the drugstore chain — without even getting carded. Just head over to the homeopathic medicine section and pick up some store-brand “constipation relief,” which just happens to be 40-proof. [More]
Walgreens To Buy Rite Aid For $9.4B
By 10.28.15
Just hours after rumors began swirling that a proposal was in the works, Walgreens Boots Alliance – the holding company that owns Walgreens Co. and Boots pharmacies in Europe – officially dropped to one knee offering Rite Aid $9.4 billion to live happily ever drug store after. [More]
Report: Walgreens Boots Alliance Discussing Deal To Buy Rite Aid
By 10.27.15
Walgreens Boots Alliance — the holding company that owns Walgreen Co. and Boots pharmacies in Europe — is reportedly looking to expand its portfolio of drug stores by adding Rite Aid into the mix. [More]
Subway Will Switch To All Antibiotic-Free Meat By 2025
By 10.20.15
Subway, a fast food chain that serves sandwich-like objects, has a problem: it has a restaurant on just about every street corner, and marketed itself with the slogan “Eat Fresh.” Yet its competitors are following trends, and people want food with simpler ingredients and fewer additives, and meat and dairy raised with fewer antibiotics. Today, Subway announced a policy change that’s good for public health: serving meat raised without routine antibiotic use by 2016 for chicken, and 2025 for beef and pork. [More]
Supplement Company Owner Gets 30 Months In Prison For Selling Diet Pills Containing Unsafe Ingredients
By 10.19.15
One slogan used by the folks at now-defunct Floyd Nutrition on weight-loss “supplements” like ZXT Bee Pollen and ZXT Gold Infinity was “Offering the gift of health,” but a more accurate statement might have been “Offering the secret gift of drugs that were pulled from the market years ago for potential health risks,” or rather, “Offering products that will land this company’s founder in federal prison for two-and-a-half years.” [More]
Sketchy 10% Of Doctors Are Writing More Than 50% Of Painkiller Prescriptions
By 10.16.15
While most doctors try to honor their oath to do no harm, some physicians just want to be paid (or are really, really, just horrible at their jobs). Take, for example, the 1-in-10 doctors responsible for writing the majority of painkiller prescriptions. [More]
Traveler Accused Of Smuggling 11 Pounds Of Liquid Cocaine In Olive Oil, Vinegar Bottles
By 10.15.15
Perhaps you have a secret ingredient for adding a little kick to your salad dressing, but if it’s cocaine, law enforcement officials aren’t going to let you keep it: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport say a passenger arrived with 11 pounds of liquid cocaine packed inside oil and vinegar bottles in his luggage. [More]
California Governor Finally Signs Nation’s First Law Getting Tough On Antibiotics In Farm Animals
By 10.12.15
Weeks after the California state legislature passed the nation’s first law intended to hold farmers and veterinarians accountable for the use of antibiotics in livestock, Governor Jerry Brown finally signed the bill over the weekend. [More]
Walgreens Shoplifter Walks Out Of Store With $100K In Prescription Drugs
By 10.7.15
In the past, Walgreens has been a target for ne’er-do-wells: there were the three people caught with more than 125 stolen credit cards, and before that, the shoplifting ring accused of stealing more than $15,000 in merchandise. But those cases pale in comparison to a brazen robbery in Florida this week in which a man forced open the pharmacy department door and made off with $100,000 in prescription drugs. [More]
CVS Will Experiment With Selling Glasses And Hearing Aids In Some Stores
By 10.5.15
Would you like to be able to take care of even more of your health care during a visit to CVS? The drugstore chain announced today that it will experiment with adding two new services to its retail stores, piloting hearing aids in some stores and optical clinics in others. The clinics will have audiologists and optometrists on staff respectively. [More]
How Drug Companies Use “Product Hopping” To Fight Off Affordable Generic Drugs
By 10.1.15 — Updated: 2.7.17
You’re probably used to the idea of your doctor prescribing you a brand-name drug and your pharmacist automatically substituting a lower-cost generic equivalent that saves you, the drugstore, and your insurer money. But there’s a practice in the industry known as “product hopping” that brand-name drug makers can use to repeatedly delay generic versions from reaching consumers. [More]
