WALGREENS

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy on Thursday released data showing that both patients and their health plans can realize savings of up to 60% on the cost of infused specialty medications by choosing alternate treatment sites. The cost savings was the key finding from new data being presented at the 2012 Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute Annual Drug Benefit Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Coupons.com on Thursday announced the appointment of Dawn Lepore, former chairman and CEO of Drugstore.com, to its board of directors.

“Dawn is a widely admired business leader and e-commerce trail blazer,” Coupons.com founder and CEO Steven Boal said. “Her leadership, expertise in building successful online businesses and experience as a board member of such companies as eBay, Walmart and The New York Times Co. will be a great asset to us as we continue to rapidly grow our business.”

ST. LOUIS — Express Scripts chairman and CEO George Paz on Thursday played down the impact of Walgreens' exit from its pharmacy network.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Pharmacy and identical-store sales were identified as positives for Safeway, which discussed its fourth-quarter results with analysts on Thursday.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Christie Clinic last week announced it had entered into a purchase agreement with Walgreens for the sale of two of the former's pharmacy operations.

Walgreens will lease the space currently occupied by Christie Clinic for its new operations. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of March. Walgreens plans to keep both pharmacy locations open and is renovating the facilities, including new signage.

LEESBURG, Va. — RxAlly on Wednesday announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind alliance of more than 20,000 pharmacies nationwide, united to help patients achieve better health through personalized pharmacist care while reducing costs.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Tuesday partnered with Passport Health Plan, a local Medicaid health plan in Louisville, Ky.,  on a new smoking-cessation program that launched in early January. The program is free to Walgreens customers and Passport members and aims to improve the community’s health by giving smokers the tools, resources and ongoing clinical pharmacist counseling to help them achieve their cessation goals.

DAYTON, Ohio — While Walmart maintained the No. 1 position on Interbrand's "U.S. Most Valuable Retail Brands" list for 2012, several other retailers are moving up the ranks.

Although Walmart touts a value that's more than $139 billion, this year also marked a 2% decrease for the big box retailer, Interbrand said. Second on this year's list was Target, which holds a value of $23 billion, a 1% increase over last year.