Retail Clinics

NEW YORK — In line with American Heart Month, Boehringer Ingelheim's Micardis has introduced a cardiovascular risk-reduction calculator, designed to assess patients' cardiovascular risk.

The calculator, which can be accessed at MicardisPro.com, is an interactive, useful tool for healthcare professionals to assist patients in reaching their cardiovascular risk-reduction goal, the company said.

Micardis (telmisartan) is a drug designed to treat hypertension.

NEW YORK — A new Harris Poll published Tuesday suggested that many doctors are doing little or nothing to help their overweight patients to lose weight.

Using classifications defined by the World Health Organization, 19% of those who are morbidly obese (with a body mass index of 35 or greater), 46% of those who are obese (BMI of between 30 and 34) and 72% who are overweight but not obese (BMI of between 25 and 29), said that their doctors have never told them to lose weight.



As the costs of primary care march steadily higher and patients endure ever-longer wait times to see a family physician, the need for accessible, cost-effective patient care alternatives has become both obvious and urgent. 


Enter Walgreens. Armed with new, time-saving 
pharmacy automation tools, a growing offsite-dispensing capability and an array of new adherence and disease-management services, the company heavily is promoting its pharmacists and in-store clinicians as the most cost-effective front-line resource for community-based patient care.


HAYWARD, Calif. — Impax Labs received regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its generic version of a bacterial infection treatment.

The drug maker on Friday said it received final approval of its abbreviated new drug application for doxycyline monohydrate capsules in the 150-mg strength. The drug, which is a tetracycline antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, is a generic version of Adoxa. Adoxa is manufactured by PharmDerm, a Nycomed subsidiary.

Impax said its generic division, Global Pharmaceuticals, will launch the product.

With pharmaceutical and healthcare expenditures on the rise, a primary care shortage at hand and an expected upswing in patients diagnosed with chronic diseases, there’s no denying that the marketplace is in the midst of an evolution. Despite the challenges, Walgreens’ health-and-wellness division has positioned itself for such changes and, according to headquarter executives, has a winning strategy in place — broadening and deepening its payer relationships.


NORTH WALES, Pa. — Generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has launched a generic drug for treating symptoms of menopause.

Teva announced Thursday the availability of Jinteli (norethindrone acetate and ethinyl estradiol) tablets.

The drug is a generic version of Warner Chilcott’s FemHRT and is available in the 1-mg/5-mcg strength.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Baxter International on Tuesday announced results of a study published in this week's issue of The Lancet that demonstrated effectiveness and tolerability of the company’s Preflucel in protecting against seasonal influenza.

WASHINGTON — The New York State Health Department has proposed a plan that could save the state’s Medicaid program $350 million through 2015.

The proposal would redesign the program so that it acts more like Medicare and private insurers. According to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a trade group for pharmacy benefit managers, the program currently uses fewer generic drugs and pays pharmacists twice what they get from private insurers and Medicare.