Opioid overdoses can, and do, happen just about anywhere, from schools to public parks, from homes to workplaces, restaurants, and night clubs. Narcan (naloxone) is a drug that can be used to halt an overdose, and it’s increasingly being used to save lives by people other than police, first responders, or emergency room staff. In fact, the demand for Narcan is such that Walgreens will now be stocking the treatment and selling it over-the-counter at its pharmacies. [More]
pharmacies
Walgreens Still Hoping To Get Feds’ Approval For Rite Aid Merger
By 9.18.17
For almost two years now, Walgreens and Rite Aid have been trying to make some kind of committed relationship work, but they remain star-crossed corporations. Walgreens wanted to buy the smaller drugstore chain, then switched to acquiring a few thousand of Rite Aid’s stores when it appeared that Federal Trade Commission approval wasn’t going to happen. Now “people with knowledge of the matter” say that a new version of the deal may finally meet FTC approval. [More]
Amazon Also Wants To Sell You (Prescription) Drugs
By 5.17.17
When Amazon executives look around their virtual store, we imagine they must be tapping their chins and thinking, “Hmm, what else do people want?” The company already sells everything from books to riding mowers, and now, it’s reportedly getting very serious about the idea of expanding into the pharmacy business. [More]
Sears Closing 50 Auto Centers, 92 Kmart Pharmacies
By 4.24.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Like a sinking ship that keeps jettisoning cargo in the hope of staying afloat, Sears Holdings will soon be ridding itself of 50 Sears Auto Centers and 92 Kmart Pharmacies. [More]
Costco Settles Federal Charges That It Turned Blind Eye To Bad Prescriptions
By 1.20.17
Costco has reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay $11.75 million to resolve federal allegations that the warehouse club’s pharmacies violated the Controlled Substances Act by filling prescriptions they probably shouldn’t have. [More]
Pharmacists Will Hand Over Drug Combinations That Could Kill You About Half The Time
By 12.19.16
Most chain pharmacies want you to feel safe ordering from them, and so their ads tout the skill, expertise, and personal touch of their tools and personnel. They promise available pharmacists who have computers who alert them to danger, and who can then tell you things like, “Hey, you shouldn’t take these together; it will kill you” if there’s a problem. [More]
NYC Pharmacy Instituting 7% “Man Tax” To Highlight Gender Pricing Discrimination
By 10.11.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
In an effort to bring awareness to discrimination in gender pricing — for example, charging a so-called “pink tax” on feminine hygiene products — one New York pharmacy has a new rule: male customers have to pay a 7% tax on items for men. [More]
CVS: Nope, We Aren’t Bringing Back The Target Pharmacy Bottles Everyone Loves
By 9.28.16
When Target reported its last batch of quarterly results, CEO Brian Cornell noted that visits to its in-store pharmacies were down after the conversion of those pharmacies to mini CVS stores. Readers explained to us why they left, and a popular reason was that CVS ditched Target’s easy-to-use red prescription bottles. Some customers held on to hope that CVS would deploy the bottles across its whole chain now that it owns the patent. Now we know the answer: nope. [More]
Pediatricians Call On Mylan To Make EpiPens More Affordable
By 8.26.16
Following reports on the skyrocketing cost of the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, drugmaker Mylan has been heavily criticized for putting profit over patients. Even the recent expansion of its savings card program has been slammed as being more beneficial to Mylan than it is for consumers. Now, the nation’s largest group of pediatricians are calling on the company to rethink its pricing of the drug. [More]
Walgreens-Rite Aid Merger Still On Track, CEO Says Only 500 Stores Would Close
By 7.6.16
Walgreens and Rite Aid are the biggest and third-biggest pharmacy drugstore in this country, and they want to join forces to become a pharma-Voltron. The companies are waiting for regulatory approval, but the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance told shareholders today that the deal will probably go through by the end of 2016, and that it will result in the closing of only about 500 stores. [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]
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]
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]
Walmart Ordered To Pay $31 Million For Retaliating Against Pharmacist Whistleblower
By 1.29.16
A federal jury in New Hampshire has slapped the nation’s largest retailer with more than $31 million in penalties for unlawful retaliation and gender bias against a former pharmacist who blew the whistle on safety concerns involving her co-workers. [More]
Rite Aid Will Deploy Thousands Of Beacons To Beam Deals At Shoppers
By 1.20.16
In-store beacons are low-power Bluetooth devices that let stores or brands push promotions out to customers smartphones. They only work when the shopper has opted in by installing an app. Do you really want your favorite shampoo brand beaming coupons at you every time you walk by a shelf? They haven’t really caught on, but Rite Aid is deploying them in 4,500 stores. [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]
Walgreens Pharmacists Manually Filling Prescriptions During Ongoing Computer System Outage
By 9.24.15
If you’re planning on heading over to Walgreens to refill a prescription, it might take a bit longer than usual: amid an ongoing outage of the drugstore chain’s pharmacy computer database that’s been going on since Tuesday morning, pharmacists have been forced to fill prescriptions by hand. Just like in ye olde days of yore. [More]
