The generic drug tidal wave became a tsunami in 2012, with some of the world's top-selling pharmaceuticals swamped by generic competition, and health plan payers scrambling to reap billions of dollars in financial savings.

The global market for biosimilars will be worth nearly $2.5 billion this year, according to a new study.

Cardinal Health announced the renewal of its pharmaceutical distribution agreement with CVS Caremark to supply pharmaceuticals to the company’s retail pharmacies and distribution centers, as McKesson, which generally serves the PBM side of the business, also announced the renewal of its current distribution agreement with the pharmacy retailer.

The renewal of the agreements was not only critical for both companies but, as Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting and CEO of Drug Channels Institute, wrote in his blog “CVS Caremark Renews with Cardinal and McKesson,” it also “demonstrates wholesalers' value in the brand-name pharmacy supply chain.”

Purdue Pharma's patent for OxyContin expired Tuesday, opening up the opioid painkiller to generic competition, but authorities have raised concerns about what they call the potential for generic versions to be abused.

Itonis Pharmaceuticals unveiled the company's initial marketing plans for an over-the-counter homeopathic product that helps relieve nausea.

Walgreens will no longer source branded prescription medicines directly from suppliers beginning in September, the Chicago-based retailer announced as part of a significant partnership between Walgreens, Alliance Boots and AmerisourceBergen that includes Walgreens and Alliance Boots potentially taking a 7% stake in the Pennsylvania wholesaler.

The stakes are high in a case involving generic drug maker Actavis and the Federal Trade Commission that will soon go before the Supreme Court, the head of a generic drug industry lobbying group said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Canadian generic drug makers expressed dismay over a new plan to reduce reimbursements for a half-dozen generic medications in most of the country's provinces. According to published reports, a group of premiers had reached a coordinated deal to reduce the prices their governments paid for six generic drugs, hoping to save the provinces nearly $100 million.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a regulatory approval application from Elite Pharmaceuticals for an opioid painkiller, the drug maker said Wednesday.

H. D. Smith announced the establishment of H. D. Smith Specialty Solutions, an organization structured to provide focus and alignment around specialty and traditional brand products, solutions and services.

Konsyl Pharmaceuticals named Roger Giannico VP sales and marketing.

Watson Pharmaceuticals on Friday confirmed that Actavis, which was acquired by Watson in October, has filed an abbreviated new drug applications with the Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to market bortezomib, a generic version of Millennium Pharmaceuticals' Velcade.