Special Reports Archive

Weis Markets streamlined its internal connection between wellness and pharmacy earlier this year with an organizational restructuring that folded the Weis Lifestyle Initiatives department, led by registered dietitian Karen Buch, into the grocer’s pharmacy division. It is the first official move by a supermarket retailer to literally draw a direct line between food and pharmacy.

Though efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act via the court system remain under way — with recent victories for opponents in Virginia and Florida — the attempt to repeal the healthcare-reform bill in Congress failed, thus leaving the bill and, most importantly, the regulatory approval pathway for follow-on biologics intact.


The CCR foundation has been laid. Now comes the next phase in Walgreens’ campaign to “enhance the customer experience.”


Customer Centric Retailing is rolling across the chain’s coast-to-coast store network like a tide. The effort — aimed at aligning Walgreens’ mix with what its customers really want from the stores; eliminating hundreds of redundant, slow-turning SKUs; and boosting front-end productivity — already has transformed more than 2,100 Walgreens stores. Another 3,400 are up for renovation by the end of this year.

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.


A whole slew of drugs will lose patent protection this year, opening up opportunities for generic drug makers to market their own versions. Most notable among these is Pfizer’s cholesterol-
lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin), the world’s top-selling drug, with U.S. sales of $7 billion during the 12 months ended September 2010, according to IMS Health.




Talk about a bold retail vision. Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson said the nation’s top pharmacy retailer wants nothing less than to “own well.”

Walgreens is ready for its closeup.


After a two-year, top-to-bottom makeover — and a relentless focus on its core customers and its broad mission as a health, wellness and convenient shopping destination — the company that wants to “own well” has honed its message to consumers: Walgreens is ready to be the nation’s top wellness destination.

Generic drug usage already has been on the rise year after year, with no sign of slowing down. As Jody Fisher, VP marketing for healthcare analytics at market research firm SDI, has told Drug Store News, generics accounted for more than 70% of products dispensed at retail pharmacies and are set to increase further this year.