Generics

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira had net sales of $1 billion during first quarter 2011, the generic drug maker said Tuesday.

Sales for the quarter, which ended March 31, declined by 0.5%, compared with first quarter 2010, while profits were $149.9 million, a 5.8% increase over last year.


If sports columnists covered Winn-Dixie, their story line would read something like this: The Jacksonville, Fla.-based retailer has climbed back into the ring as a slimmed-down and much-improved fighter competing in a lighter weight class. 


The Midwest is known for flat landscapes and fertile farm fields stretching to the horizon, but it also is home to one of the country’s oldest and most successful mass merchandise chains — one with a long history of strong emphasis on pharmacy programs.


Where a growing number of chains have adopted generic discount programs, Meijer has taken to giving many drugs away for free. The list of medications that customers can obtain at no charge now includes metformin for Type 2 diabetes, prenatal vitamins and most antibiotics.


CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A generic drug maker is being sued for patent infringement for its version of a fixed-dose combination drug co-created by Pozen and AstraZeneca.

You can’t be all things to all people, but you can be all things to one person. That’s the opportunity Giant Eagle is grabbing with the number of ways the Pittsburgh food-and-pharmacy retailer interacts with patients. 


“Our goal is to help those within our communities live healthier, longer lives,” Dan Donovan, Giant Eagle spokesman, told Drug Store News. “We look to do this in a number of ways … [through] initiatives, such as our health and beauty care business, in-store retail health clinics and our group of skilled dietitians.”


PITTSBURGH — Mylan has launched a generic treatment for breast cancer, the drug maker said Monday.

Mylan announced the launch of letrozole tablets in the 2.5-mg strength, an adjuvant treatment for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early-stage breast cancer.

The drug is the first generic version of Novartis’ Femara, which had sales of about $682 million in 2010, according to IMS Health.

“After all, we’re from around here, too.” That message, delivered to millions of Texas consumers via the pharmacy page on H-E-B’s heavily scanned website, lies at the heart of the San Antonio-based supermarket chain’s seemingly unshakeable grip on both customers and patients in the Lone Star State. The H.E. Butt Grocery Co. maintains high marks for customer loyalty, innovative patient care services, a quality shopping experience and plenty of healthy choices in its food aisles.


PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Watson Pharmaceuticals is hoping to become the first company to market a generic treatment for cholesterol.

The drug maker said Wednesday that it had filed with the Food and Drug Administration for approval of a generic version of Welchol (colesevelam hydrochloride) tablets in the 625-mg strength, made by Daiichi Sankyo, thus challenging the patents covering the drug.