In this Issue

Maybe men have been the secret all along to pumping up front-end sales.

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Consumers buying homeopathic remedies base those decisions on two factors: products that are safe and efficacious. The products have to work, or they wouldn’t earn the repeat purchases that are helping to drive sales.

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Twenty years ago this month, I put on what was then my “lucky” tie, this horrible, neon yellow number from Banana Republic — it wore more like a bad Hawaiian shirt than a tie — and I started a new job as senior editor for OTCs and natural health at Drug Store News.

Sure, I have a lot less hair today than I did then, but I also have much better taste in ties.

The road to a career at the intersection of business and politics may have started with a “mean impersonation” of our 37th president, the CHPA chief tells DSN.

CVS Health senior educator Kristene Diggins and others involved in the fight against diabetes said they expect drug stores and retail clinics to play a bigger role in coming years.

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Generics continue to grow as a proportion of the total prescriptions dispensed every year, and as that number has grown, so have the savings that generics bring to the healthcare system. The Generic Pharmaceutical Association has been front and center, touting the benefits that generics bring for lawmakers, payers and, most importantly, patients. Drug Store News spoke with GPhA president and CEO Chip Davis about the organization’s efforts in 2016 and plans for the remainder of 2017.

Americans can’t do enough for their furry friends. To that end, growth continues to be the watchword in the pet care category.

Research released by the American Pet Products Association, or the APPA, indicated that American consumers would spend a total of $62.75 billion on pet supplies and care in 2016, up from $60.28 in 2015 and $58.04 in 2014.

In the United States, colds account for more visits to the doctor than any other condition, according to the American Lung Association. The common culprit behind spreading rhinovirus, the virus behind as many as 40% of all colds, is children — pediatric patients on average suffer from the symptoms of a cold between six and eight times each year. And given how highly contagious many colds are, that may explain why many adults get sick, too.