Specialty Pharmacy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The board of directors of Genzyme unanimously recommended that shareholders accept French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis’ $74-per-share buyout offer, Genzyme said Monday.

Genzyme recently accepted Sanofi’s $20.1 billion offer for the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company. Sanofi had sought to buy the company since last July, when it offered $18.5 billion, or $69 per share.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira launched a new online resource that catalogs all of its products available in the United States.

Hospira said that the U.S. product catalog, available at Hospira.com/catalog, allows customers, including healthcare facilities and medical care providers, to search Hospira's more than 1,200 products in a variety of ways: alphabetically, by product name, by list number or by therapeutic class.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Delays or limits in the supply of flu vaccines can exacerbate disparities in vaccination rates among elderly whites, African-Americans and Hispanics, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

With pharmacists across the country now able to administer vaccinations, the Department of Health and Human Services’ plan came at just the right time.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — Gilead on Friday announced that the Food and Drug Administration has removed a boxed warning about a possible liver injury risk caused by the drug maker's hypertension treatment.

Gilead said the FDA approved a change to the prescribing information for Letairis (ambrisentan 5-mg and 10-mg tablets), the company’s once-daily treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

ALEXANDRI, Va. — In a letter penned Thursday by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the association stated that while it shares the goal of reducing prescription drug costs, authorizing the reimportation of prescription medications — as sought in S.319, the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2011 — raises concerns about patient health and safety.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Specialty pharmacy services provider MedPro Rx announced that it has expanded its Web portal.

The portal, which can be accessed on the company's website, provides patients, physicians, nurses and case managers with the ability to access targeted content to review medical records and clinical follow-up, drug dispensing/refill and shipping history. The portal also can be used as a tool to communicate with the clinical staff at MedPro Rx and utilizes a secure, password-protected customer log-in to allow for privacy of information and ease of use for clients.

FRISCO, Texas — Assured Pharmacy on Wednesday reported that its same-store sales during the month of December rose more than 12% from the year-ago period.

The specialty pharmacy operator said that same-store sales totaled $1.5 million (or $70,464 per business day), compared with $1.3 million ($62,714 per business day) in December 2009, a 12.4% increase.

The company also announced that it reached the 10,000 prescriptions filled milestone for the first time during the month.