HEALTH

CALGARY, Alberta — The Jean Coutu Group may be only biding its time before making another go at a pharmacy operation in the United States, the Calgary Herald reported Friday, citing Jean Coutu Group chairman Jean Coutu’s recently released autobiography, written in French.

According to the report, Coutu suggested that jettisoning the Eckerd headquarters led to the early demise of the Brooks-Eckerd deal because there “weren't enough key personnel to make the merger work.”

PITTSBURGH — GNC on Thursday announced the launch of its GNC Longevity Factors, GNC's first and only complete line of nutritional supplements marketed for aging well. The line features supplements that support health and bioavailability enhancement technology to improve the absorption of a key antioxidant important for healthy cell aging.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — No matter how you slice it, the flexible spending account changes that are part of the overall Affordable Care Act aren’t doing a whole lot by way of saving healthcare dollars, at least not for patients. Indeed, about the only benefactors are those folks who have to make dollars and cents out of what might become the first casualty of the Obamacare healthcare package — those who have to explain how the administration plans to pay for this package, you know, by not raising taxes.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The fact that CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic was highlighted as an innovator of healthcare delivery by the World Economic Forum's Innovation Health Care Delivery Project is important on several fronts. Not only does the recognition further illustrate the important role that convenient care clinics are playing in U.S. health care, but perhaps even more importantly, this forum also was a global stage for the clinic operator.

NEW YORK — Pfizer got promising results from a late-stage clinical trial of a cancer treatment, the drug maker said Friday.

Pfizer announced results of the phase-3 “AXIS 1032” trial of the kidney cancer drug axitinib, saying that it “significantly” extended the lives of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma compared with Nexavar (sorafenib), made by Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

ST. LOUIS — Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts has created what it calls the industry’s most comprehensive specialty benefits organization, the company announced Thursday.

BASEL, Switerland — Swiss drug maker Novartis will focus on innovation as part of a program for long-term growth, the company said Wednesday.

Novartis touted its research and development pipeline of 142 drugs in clinical trials, 35% of which are in phase 3 or undergoing regulatory review, as well as a plan to submit 30 more drugs for regulatory review by the end of 2012. The company also plans to continue investing in vaccine development.

CHICAGO — A Type 2 diabetes drug marketed by Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease compared with other diabetes treatments, the two companies said Wednesday.

According to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Chicago, use of Byetta (exenatide) was associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease than insulin and several other drug classes.