HEALTH

As more Americans join the ranks of diabetics, the opportunity to target these consumers at the shelf becomes more crucial. 


Retailers like Rite Aid are using pull-box displays that allow customers to physically handle a blood-glucose meter before they make that purchase decision. That kind of consumer engagement, evident throughout Rite Aid’s latest Wellness format store, for example, helps anchor diabetes as a front-end destination center. 


SUPPLIER NEWS — Acura Pharmaceuticals in December will launch an immediate-release pseudoephedrine tablet under the brand name Nexafed that will help impede conversion of the tablets into methamphetamine. Couched as the “next generation pseudoephedrine product,” Nexafed is a 30 mg PSE hydrochloride tablet that utilizes Acura’s trademarked Impede technology. 


MASHPEE, Mass. — Rocasuba on Wednesday launched a homeopathic energy-booster utilizing a unique patch delivery system. Providing up to five hours of energy, the product delivers homeopathic ingredients, including naturally derived caffeine, tea extract and zinc.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Bayer Healthcare on Wednesday announced that they have teamed up with Vitamin Angels to launch 10 Million Stronger, a charitable initiative aimed at delivering vitamin A to 10 million children worldwide who are suffering from vitamin A deficiency.

ST. LOUIS — People with diabetes often develop clogged arteries that cause heart disease, and new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that low vitamin D levels are to blame. In a study published Nov. 9 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers reported that blood vessels are less like to clog in people with diabetes who get adequate vitamin D. But in patients with insufficient vitamin D, immune cells bind to blood vessels near the heart, then trap cholesterol to block those blood vessels.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Novartis Consumer Health on Wednesday announced the development of a convenient migraine trigger tracking tool, My Migraine Triggers App, with a neurologist. The company also partnered with Jordin Sparks, singer, actress and Broadway performer, and Keri Peterson, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital, on the launch of "Managing Migraines: Know Your Triggers. Know Your Treatment," an educational campaign to raise awareness around the importance of knowing individual migraine triggers. 

REDMOND, Wash. — Crossmark has launched a self-service data portal that it said would deliver business insights in real time to manufacturer and retail clients in the consumer goods industry.

The portal, which uses the Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Workhouse, provides sales and marketing channels with access to real-time market data, allowing them to analyze and take advantage of market trends faster than before, the company said.

SAN DIEGO — Health warning labels on cigarette packages that use pictures to show the health consequences of smoking are effective in reaching adult smokers, according to the results of a new study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.