In this Issue

Mass trades fragrance for bath scents
Is the smell of money in the air for the fragrance market? Perhaps.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)
Adherence gets some stickiness
“No one gets paid unless patients improve adherence.”

That’s what Aaron McKethan, SVP of strategy and business development for RxAnte, had to say in a Jan. 13 article on Forbes.com, “A digital health acquisition to watch.” The story focused largely on RxAnte’s recent acquisition by Millennium Laboratories in December — which the author described as a “little-known, private equity-backed urine drug testing company” — and the technology it uses to improve patient adherence.

Mapping out the next generics wave

From 2012 to 2017, global spending on medicines will increase from $205 billion to $235 billion, according to IMS Health. By 2017, 36% of the spend will be on generics, a number that is 9% more than the percentage in 2013.

As a result of the patent cliff, generic drug manufacturers have thrived while branded pharmaceutical manufacturers have suffered. Branded pharmaceutical manufacturers are expected to suffer even more in the coming years, as many more important patents will lose exclusivity.
Medicare pushing for open pharmacy networks, spelling big changes for pharmacy providers

The federal agency in charge of Medicare is pushing for a major overhaul of its Medicare Part D drug benefit program for seniors. Those changes, if adopted, could help level the competitive playing field for pharmacy retailers in Part D plan networks, reduce competitive advantages for preferred pharmacy networks and mail-order pharmacies, and put a tighter squeeze on pharmacy benefit managers.

Thus, the proposals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the 2015 federal fiscal year could spell big changes for retail pharmacies. Among the most far-reaching are:
Managed Medicaid boom could mean more generics

Now that most generics have declined in cost, plans will look for new ways to control health spend and ensure that generics are being used whenever possible. Prescription drug spending is down, and generic drugs made up 77% of all 2012 prescriptions, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Could this generic utilization percentage go even higher as a result of recent healthcare legislation?

Medicaid is increasingly becoming a managed care program, and states are looking to entities like pharmacy benefit managers to help them manage their drug spend.
Cough-cold rewind: 20 years of growth

This year, ECRM celebrates 20 years of successfully pairing buyers and sellers across the consumer packaged goods industry. As part of that celebration, and in correlation to the ECRM Cough-Cold, Analgesics and Allergy event, DSN editors thought it’d be a good idea to look back through the last 20 years of the cough-cold business at retail.
Asthma solutions in demand

The one-time $100 million asthma-relief brand Primatene may make a comeback to the marketplace after a more than two-year hiatus. Primatene Mist had been withdrawn from the market in December 2011 when the agency removed all inhalers containing chlorofluorocarbons from the market.
Total Store Expo 2.0
Q&A: Genetic profiling with Dr. Anita Goel of Nanobiosym

A new and possibly transformative technology for rapidly diagnosing and evaluating patients based on their specific genetic profile may soon begin appearing at retail pharmacies and clinics, giving pharmacists and clinicians another tool for advancing patient health outcomes and their own practice capabilities.

Dr. Anita Goel, M.D., Ph.D.
Q&A: Taking the pulse with Mitch Rothschild of Vitals

Selecting a doctor can be a frustrating process filled with too many unknowns, especially in today’s evolving landscape. Looking to help patients take the guesswork out of finding the ideal doctor, Vitals has developed online tools at Vitals.com to give patients visibility into quality, cost and availability.