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Inside This Issue - News
Frank Scorpiniti is now just over a year into his Canadian experience: 11 months as chief operating officer of the Katz Group and just four months in the chief executive officer position to which he was appointed after the retirement of former president and CEO Andy Giancamilli in February. That time has been long enough for him to size up the competition. With the fate of the health care reform law hanging in the balance, three of the country’s largest health insurers said they would maintain some Affordable Care Act benefits regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on it. But the companies said they would not continue coverage for pre-existing conditions. Retail pharmacy has the capacity to be one of the drivers of the transformation of health care, says Kathleen Jaeger, senior vice president of pharmacy care and patient advocacy at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Walmart’s annual meeting earlier this month managed to celebrate the retailer’s 50 years of spectacular growth in usual style, with plenty of enthusiastic associates from around the world and high-profile celebrities on display. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has unveiled an interactive educational resource for this year’s NACDS Marketplace Conference. The role of private label has changed, and that means a more sophisticated approach in developing them is required, according to Laura Sturdevant, Walgreen Co.’s director of product development for private brands. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has named Thomas O’Donnell vice president of federal government affairs. Navarro Discount Pharmacy has launched a Spanish-language version of its website. Former Medco Health Solutions Inc. executive Peter Duran has joined the executive team at RxAlly. Walgreen Co. has extended its partnership with the pharmacy benefits management company OptumRx for several more years. Bartell Drugs and the Space Needle have established a multidimensional partnership in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the structure — the centerpiece of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. U.S. health care spending should grow at an historically low rate of 7.5% this year, a pace that could emerge as the standard course for the immediate future, according to the annual “Behind the Numbers” report on medical cost trend, published by the Health Research Institute (HRI) of PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. (PwC). The business model that has long sustained the research-based pharmaceutical industry is faltering, with the steady stream of blockbuster medications that once characterized it drying up and competition from generics suppliers increasing as an unprecedented number of branded products lose patent protection. One of the first big drug makers to hit the so-called patent cliff, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has responded by rethinking its strategic positioning and adopting a more balanced approach to the evolving health care marketplace. GlaxoSmithKline is changing the way it operates, both internally and in terms of how it interacts with other health care stakeholders. Part of the solution to the problems of access and cost that beset the nation’s health care system can be found in greater use of over-the-counter medications, an insight on which GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is acting. New products are the lifeblood of the consumer products business, and that’s as true in the over-the-counter drug category as in any other sector. As part of its push to become a bigger force in nonprescription medicines, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare has put a premium on research and development.
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