In this Issue

Administering high-touch, expensive and complex medications to patients intravenously in their homes — or in a setting other than a hospital — is essentially a large-scale bid to “reduce costs by transferring non-self-administered drugs to the most cost-effective and clinically appropriate site of care,” said pharmacist Michael Einodshofer, senior director of specialty strategy and innovation at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy.

Probiotics is another large-scale source of growth for the vitamins, minerals and supplements category, having realized a 33% rate of growth, or an increase in sales of $121 million in the last year, noted Doug Jones, Pharmavite spokesman.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — GlaxoSmithKline recently tapped Emmy-nominated choreographer, “Dancing with the Stars” professional dancer and recording artist Mark Ballas to headline the company’s Blueprint to Quit smoking-cessation program. The star has been smoke-free for more than six months thanks to the comprehensive, two-part quit-smoking Blueprint to Quit resource available exclusively at Walmart.

Bright orange. Seductive red. Shiny. Matte. Regardless of what lip color you fancy, the bottom line is that lip color is hot — red hot.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)

Fueled by the opening of new distribution channels, an enhanced focused on new natural ingredients and greater consumer interest, the natural personal care market continues to see strong global growth.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)

Sales of vitamins and minerals represent a $6.5 billion book of business that’s growing at a 5.2% clip across total U.S. multi-outlets for the 52 weeks ended Nov. 3, 2013, according to IRI.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)

According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, leading up to January 2013, 45% of Americans made a New Year’s resolution. Of those, 38% were weight-related resolutions. In fact, losing weight was the No. 1 resolution, beating out “getting organized” and “spend less, save more.”