WALGREENS

DALLAS — Walgreens was awarded a Colloquy Loyalty Award in recognition of its Balance Rewards loyalty program, the group announced Tuesday.  

Community pharmacy’s long struggle to win professional recognition and a full seat at the health provider table is finally finding some traction as health systems, individual healthcare providers, health plans and plan payers begin to really connect the dots and build a workable framework for a more patient-centric, evidence-based and cost-effective system of care in the United States.

Walgreens Healthcare Clinic (formerly known as Take Care Clinic) has formed a multi-year agreement with healthcare technology company Inovalon to provide Inovalon’s data-driven encounter support platform, Electronic Patient Assessment Solution Suite (ePASS), within Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens.

CHICAGO — The majority of manufacturer engagements are not aligned with retailers’ core strategic goals, and do not create real value in the eyes of the retailer. Today’s winning companies are able to identify and leverage the unique hidden assets of their brands, and build a business around agile, transparent, retailer/manufacturer collaboration — experts call it “co-creation.”

CHICAGO — Call it the Academy Awards of the shopper marketing business.

The Shopper Marketing Expo, scheduled for Oct. 8-10, here, at the Navy Pier, will once again host the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual Design of the Times merchandising display competition.

DSNTV recently interviewed Walgreens DVP of category strategy, innovation and space management Beth Stiller at the company's Bucktown/Wicker Park flagship store in Chicago for a Virtual Store Tour segment focused on Walgreens’ key strategy in such core categories as health and beauty, and how it plays out in its flagship stores.

LOS ANGELES — Tea of a Kind, a tea beverage company, announced today a wide distribution expansion into retail pharmacies, grocery stores and supermarkets in Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and more.

The product, which recently won Best Ready-to-Drink Tea Beverage at the 2012 Interbev Awards in Las Vegas, utilizes a "Gizmo Closure and Delivery System," a cap technology, which holds fresh, functional ingredients in a nitrogen pressurized chamber until the point of consumption, the company stated.

NEW YORK — The University of Utah's College of Pharmacy has opened a new research organization designed to encourage collaboration and interaction, according to published reports.

The Salt Lake City-based Deseret News reported on the opening of the L.S. Skaggs Pharmacy Institute, a 150,000-sq.-ft. facility that includes open lab space.