HEALTH

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is renewing its diabetes extension for Wellness+ and offering free screenings at all of its Wellness stores to mark American Diabetes Month, the retail pharmacy chain said Monday.

The opportunity for weight loss certainly hasn’t gone away — sales of diet-aid liquids were up 12.8% to $1.2 billion for the 52 weeks ended Sept. 9 across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart), according to SymphonyIRI. And due to the temporary absence of GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli — unavailable because of a raw-ingredient sourcing issue — sales of diet-aid tablets are down with a 7% decline to a dollar base of 
$205.4 million. 
Alli had been removed from the market in March due to the third-party supply issue and returned in late June. 


MCHENRY, Ill. — Medela today announced the introduction of Quick Clean Breastmilk Removal Soap designed for cleaning breast pump and breast milk feeding accessories.

Quick Clean Soap is designed specifically to break down the proteins and fats in breast milk and removes breast milk residue up to three days old. The detergent contains no added fragrance or taste that might discourage baby from breastfeeding and is safe and hypoallergenic, the company stated. 

PASADENA, Calif. — Playmaker Nutrition is looking to knock multivitamin sales out of the ballpark with a new gummy line targeting teens and tweens. Of course, with sports-stars-cum-company-founders backing their play, the gummies may appeal to more than just kids. The all-start lineup includes Summer Olympics gold medalist and NBA star Kevin Love, Winter Olympics gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden and Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

CHICAGO — A study published Monday online by JAMA may skew the conversation over multivitamin use negatively, despite the fact that study authors maintain the study cannot be generalized across the general population given the study's subjects — namely, practicing physicians. 

Products often fail before they ever find their way to market. Because our firm reviews more than 2,500 new health, beauty and wellness products, and sees approximately 13,000 packaging changes and line extensions annually, I’ve seen this firsthand.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Emerson Ecologics, a provider of professional-grade nutritional supplements to practitioners, on Thursday announced its partnership with Douglas Laboratories as its exclusive external distributor for the Klean Athlete line to healthcare practitioners. 

Klean Athlete is a new line of nutritional supplements formulated specifically for athletes to help them achieve optimum health; the complete line is NSF-certified for sport, ensuring that each product has undergone testing and certification to be free of banned substances.

INDIANAPOLIS – Eli Lilly is spending $140 million to expand its insulin manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, the drug maker said.

Lilly said it would expand the plant by 80,000 sq. ft., saying it represented one of the most significant investments in its U.S. manufacturing operations in the past decade. Construction is expected to start immediately, with completion planned for March 2014.