In this Issue

As pharmacist-provided clinical services continue to expand, the role of the technician also is expanding. Immunization delivery is now an expected offering in most community pharmacies. To support the additional responsibilities of the technician, Drug Store News has partnered with VaxServe to develop a set of immunization resources specifically for pharmacy technicians.

As we ship this issue to the printer, it has been less than 24 hours since Drug Store News hosted its 18th annual Industry Issues Summit. What began almost two decades ago as a closed-door discussion between a handful of retail merchandising executives and a few vendors in a small hotel meeting room has since evolved to become one of the signature thought leadership and networking events on the industry calendar.

AARP’s Project Catalyst — an initiative aimed at sparking healthcare innovation focused on people ages 50 years and older — in a report from April projects that by 2020, 117 million Americans will need some sort of caregiving assistance. At that point, the size of the market for the 45 million unpaid and 5 million paid caregivers is estimated to reach $72 billion, with RAND estimating opportunity costs around caregivers to be $522 billion every year, based on income unpaid caregivers lose in time spent on eldercare.

In 2017, there will be three growth categories within the OTC sector that will continue to post dividends to retail pharmacy’s bottom line across the self-care aisle. We’re calling them the old, the now and the future.

(Click here to view the full Category Review.)

Health-and-wellness trends are taking the CPG and retail industries by storm, and that is no less the case when it comes to the confectionary industry specifically.

As consumer dietary habits have shifted in recent years, confectionary companies in particular have had a tougher task of finding ways to drive growth in the candy aisles. Candy sales have been trending down, with consumers opting for better-for-you snacks.

The bright spot for candy manufacturers and retailers has been novelty and seasonal confections.

DSN has named Thrifty White Pharmacy its 2016 Pharmacy Innovator award winner. DSN publisher Eric Savitch and editor in chief/associate publisher Rob Eder presented the award to Thrifty White president and CEO Bob Narveson, COO Tim Weippert and key members of the company’s pharmacy leadership team at an exclusive reception at Minneapolis’ Butcher and the Boar restaurant.

Drug Store News caught up with NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson for a recap of 2016 and a look ahead at what to expect from a Trump administration.

DSN: What is the RxImpact scorecard for 2016? How did the industry do on the key pharmacy and patient access issues?

When PerceptiMed was launched in 2011, its founder, neurosurgeon Dr. Alan Jacobs, set out to ensure that adverse medical events resulting from a patient receiving the wrong medication or wrong dose could be avoided. To do so, the Silicon Valley-based company worked to develop its proprietary VeriFill technology, which powers its IdentRx medication verification device and can read manufacturer imprints on the sides of every pill as a medication is dispensed.