WALGREENS

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Mom Made Foods, a maker of frozen prepared meals, snacks and meal starters for kids, is extending its reach to the Big Apple.

The company, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-organic certified producer of frozen foods for children, announced that its three product lines — Mom Made Meals, Mom Made Munchies and Mom Made Bites — will make their way to Duane Reade. The products currently are available at a variety of grocery retailers, including A&P, Hannaford, Shaw's and Waldbaums.

NEW YORK — Dickinson’s Original Witch Hazel brand has announced the launch of three new products formulated with all-natural witch hazel extract for those with sensitive skin.

Dickinson’s skin care line is formulated with 100% natural witch hazel to remove excess oil and impurities without stripping skin of essential moisture. The new gentle skin cleanser, foaming facial wash and oil controlling astringent will be available for purchase at Walgreens in April 2012.

NEW YORK — Shares of Rite Aid crossed the $2 mark Wednesday afternoon following analyst speculation about the prospects of a takeover by Walgreens, according to published reports.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The news that Walgreens outlined how face-to-face pharmacy and Take Care Clinic programs have been shown to drive better health outcomes further illustrates the fact that human interaction simply does things that mail order cannot.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Immunization records will be sent directly from Walgreens and Duane Reade stores to primary care providers over Surescripts' electronic prescribing network, Walgreens said Monday.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Specialty pharmacy provider BioScrip had sales of $483.3 million in fourth quarter 2011 and $1.8 billion in fiscal year 2011, the company said Friday.

The company's fourth-quarter sales marked an increase of $32.9 million, while the sales for the year were $200 million over fiscal year 2010. Meanwhile, the company had profits of $6.7 million for the quarter and $7.9 million for the year.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is bringing its pharmacy to the palms of customers' hands by introducing new mobile features that aim to improve the management of prescription needs and medication adherence.

The latest mobile features include:

In a recent campaign, Walgreens used LocalResponse’s Direct Response to reach customers in-store to disseminate store promotions, such as flu shots and coupons for Kraft Foods’ Halls cough drops. Average click-through rates for Direct Response are greater than 50%, according to LocalResponse. Specifically, those consumers who “checked in” at their local Walgreens, be it through third-party apps like FourSquare, Google Places or Yelp, were targeted with a Halls-branded message.