The new issue of Rolling Stone magazine has stirred up quite a bit of controversy this days due to the choice of cover subject: Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, tied in to a profile in the issue detailing his life leading up to the bombing. CVS issued a statement today saying that due to its roots in New England, its store will not be carrying this issue of the magazine. Update: Walgreens will also not be selling the issue. [More]
Pharma Medicine
Express Scripts Decides Cancer Patient’s Drug Isn’t Approved Yet, Shrugs
By 7.9.13
Health insurance is supposed to make your life less stressful, not more. It’s supposed to help you treat illnesses, not keep you away from legitimate treatments. Yet mail-order pharmacy kept a life-extending treatment away from a terminal cancer patient, causing her extra stress and costing her time spent on the phone and not receiving treatment. [More]
Why Does Anyone Ever Buy Brand-Name Painkillers?
By 7.9.13
For everyday over-the-counter drugs like painkillers or allergy medicine, do you pick up the brand name, or a generic? Even if the inactive ingredients and binders are slightly different, the brand-name and store-brand meds that sit side-by-side on the shelf should have the same effects. One costs a lot less. So why does anyone buy name-brand over-the-counter drugs? [More]
New York Attorney General Investigating Walmart, Home Depot, Others Over Prepaid Payroll Cards
By 7.3.13
Though it’s been a point of concern with employee-rights advocates for years, the use of prepaid debit cards as a substitute for traditional payroll checks is finally getting attention from the powers that be, with the New York state attorney general’s office investigating the practice at some of the nation’s largest employers. [More]
DEA: Walgreens Ignored Signs, Encouraged Questionable Sales Of Oxycodone At Florida Pharmacies
By 7.2.13
Earlier this summer, the Drug Enforcement Agency slapped Walgreens with a substantial $80 million settlement over allegations that the drugstore chain had allowed an ocean of prescription painkillers to hit the black market in Florida. Now, between revelations from the local police and uncovered DEA documents, the public is finally getting an idea of just how bad the problem was, and how much Walgreens turned a blind eye to illegal activity at its stores. [More]
Supreme Court Rules FTC Can Challenge Deals Intended To Delay Release Of Generic Drugs
By 6.17.13
When a generic version of a drug comes on the market, the holder of the brand-name drug’s patent stands to see a steep drop in sales as many customers switch to the lower-price option. Thus, some companies will go to great lengths to delay the release of generics. One such method, dubbed “pay-for-delay,” involves the patent-holder suing manufacturers of generics and then settling for millions of dollars with the agreement that the generic suppliers will hold off on releasing their product. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission has the right to challenge these sorts of deals. [More]
Walgreens To Pay $80 Million In Settlement Over Black Market Painkillers
By 6.12.13
Walgreens — or, as known by its proper name, Walgreen — has agreed to pony up a whopping $80 million to settle claims by the government that it was negligent in allowing painkillers to end up on the black market. It’s the largest settlement in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is the result of an investigation into a distribution center in Florida that had been receiving a high number of prescription pain meds from six pharmacies in the state. [More]
Store-Brand Sunscreens From Target, Walmart, Walgreens Outperform Higher-Priced Options In Test
By 5.23.13
If you think you get what you pay for when you buy sunscreen, you might be in for a surprise. Our less-sunburned cousins at Consumer Reports recently put a dozen sun-protection products to the test and the ones that came out on top were also among the least expensive. [More]
Silly Me, Expecting My Mail-Order Pharmacy To Pay Attention To My Meds
By 5.20.13
Don’t expect your mail-order pharmacy to look out for you or for your health. That’s what reader Kathleen learned when her auto-refill prescription got auto-refilled, in spite of her new and exciting prescription for the same medication in a higher dose. Isn’t the point to having everything run by benevolent computers that they’re smarter than we are, and don’t make silly human errors? [More]
Where’s The Best Place To Get Drugs For Your Pet? The Human Pharmacy
By 5.17.13
Generally, when you go to the doctor for a checkup, you don’t fill your prescriptions right there in the office at the same time that you hand over your co-pay. That generally is what pet owners do at the vet, though. As it turns out, the cheapest place to get your pets’ drugs may not be mail-order pharmacies or your vet’s office, but the chain or independent pharmacy where you get drugs for the human members of your family. [More]
Report Claims Many Walgreens Sales Items Are Out Of Stock, Mislabeled
By 5.17.13
Last fall, Walgreens launched Balance Rewards, which isn’t just a loyalty program, but is also the only way to access many of the store’s advertised discounts. However, a new report claims that Walgreens stores in four major cities are having a hard time making these discounted items available to shoppers, and that the items are frequently mislabeled anyway. [More]
How Much Does A Free Pair Of Gloves Cost? 60 Cents
By 5.10.13
Walgreens, it’s great that you’re trying to encourage sales of your “Nice!” house brand by giving away free coordinating stuff with, say, a bottle of dish soap. It’s the part where you’re underestimating their intelligence that’s kind of bad. For example, charging an extra 60 cents, then saying that something is on “sale” and comes with free stuff. [More]
Legislation Would Push FDA To Investigate Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals
By 5.8.13
As Americans grow more concerned that the antibiotics being provided to farm animals are resulting in new strains of pathogens that are resistant to these drugs, a group of Senators have introduced legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority to collect data about this controversial practice. [More]
Pfizer To Sell Viagra Direct To Consumers Online, Not Through Spam Messages
By 5.6.13
Do you want all of the ease of ordering Viagra online, with none of the risk that you’re helping support a global spam empire? Soon, you may be in luck! Sort of. Pfizer, makers of Viagra, announced recently that they plan to sell the famed erectile-dysfunction drug directly to consumers, instead of to pharmacies through wholesalers. [More]
How To Save Money By Not Using Your Health Insurance
By 4.30.13
We’ve covered the topic of low-cost generic medicines in the past, helping a reader save more than $300 in out-of-pocket expenses every year by filling his prescriptions at a discount store and not using his health insurance. That’s just one person, though. Can this plan work for everyone? Our sibling publication Consumer Reports deployed their nationwide network of secret shoppers to find out. [More]
Tests: Ground Turkey From Antibiotic-Free Birds Less Likely To Harbor Drug-Resistant Bacteria
By 4.30.13 — Updated: 11.20.15
Most of us know that there may be potentially harmful bacteria on the raw meat we buy, but a new study appears to show a direct link between animals that have been provided antibiotics and the presence of pathogens that are resistant to drugs. [More]
Maybe Man Accused Of Stealing Whitening Strips, Condoms & Weight-Loss Pills Had A Hot Date
By 4.26.13
Police in Colorado are on the lookout for a guy who’s probably having a really great time now, or is at least looking quite dashing and dapper while doing so. Authorities say a “well-groomed” suspect waltzed into several Walgreens stores and boosted more than $2,600 worth of teeth-whitening strips, weight-loss pills, probiotics, condoms and Rogaine, as well as other hair-growth products. [More]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By 4.22.13
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned about potentially fraudulent work done on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by a contract research firm in Texas, they didn’t pull the drugs off the market. You might think, though, that they might hold off on approving new drugs based on testing that came from that lab. You would be wrong. [More]
