Specialty Pharmacy

ATLANTA The Food and Drug Administration has granted priority review for a diabetic macular edema treatment.

SAN DIEGO The U.S. drug market will present opportunities as well as uncertainties over the next decade, according to remarks made by IMS Health VP industry relations Doug Long at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ 2010 Pharmacy and Technology Conference held here on Monday.

STOCKHOLM Meda on Monday announced an agreement to acquire the specialty pharmaceutical company Alaven in a move that will “significantly enhance Meda’s marketing capabilities in the United States and expand the therapeutic focus to include both gastroenterology and women’s health — areas that Meda already operates in outside of the United States,” the company stated.

Meda also identified Alaven’s over-the-counter platform, which accounts for approximately 25% of Alaven’s sales, as an attractive element to the deal.

PHOENIX The Apothecary Shops, a Phoenix-based chain of specialty pharmacies with 16 locations in six states, has acquired the Greater Sacramento Specialty Pharmacy.

GSP, which provides services to patients and practitioners in California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Idaho and Montana, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of The Apothecary Shops and will continue operating under the Greater Sacramento Specialty Pharmacy name. The acquisition of GSP bolsters the oncology specialty business for The Apothecary Shops. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WASHINGTON The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday expanded Medicare coverage of evidence-based tobacco-cessation counseling, removing a barrier to treatment for all tobacco users covered by Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced.

BASEL, Switzerland Swiss drug maker Roche will acquire a U.S. diagnostics company that develops technology used to create images of patients’ tissue samples.

Roche announced that it would acquire all of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based BioImagene for $100 million. BioImagene works in the field of digital pathology, a technology that allows the capturing, management and analysis of images of patients’ tissue samples, creating high-resolution images from glass microscope slides.