In this Issue

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.

America’s getting healthy again.

(Click here to view the full Category Review.)

AMSTERDAM — The Philips OneBlade is a new hybrid electric styler that can trim, shave and create clean lines and edges. It is specially designed for the increasing number of millennials who regard personally-styled facial hair as an essential part of their persona. For the first time, consumers can shave any length of hair with one stroke. The Philips Norelco OneBlade is an electric grooming technology designed for men who wear facial styles, beards or stubble. OneBlade trims, edges and shaves any length of hair.

Make healthcare affordable — again.

That’s the mandate many Americans have for President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. In fact, as many as 76% identified health care as the leading policy issue they’d like to see addressed by the new administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute Consumer Survey conducted in September, though the economy (79%) and national security (76%) were leading concerns as well.

When a company has been around as long as Plymouth, Minn.-based Thrifty White Pharmacy — which traces its roots to the 1884 opening of White Drug in what was then the Dakota Territory — there is an expectation that to stick around, it has to adapt to changes in the industry to stay in business. But rather than be content following its competitors’ leads in an effort to simply keep the lights on, Thrifty White has been on the front lines of adapting early to the biggest changes impacting the pharmacy business.

The competitive landscape throughout the OTC arena has changed significantly over the past five years, with the Top 10 rankings shifting in the past year thanks to a slew of acquisitions and joint ventures. Bayer’s bolt-on acquisition of Merck’s Consumer Health business in 2014 helped solidify its spot as the second-largest OTC marketer. And GSK Consumer Healthcare claimed the No. 3 spot after forming a joint venture with Novartis Consumer Health.