WALGREENS

CINCINNATI — Kroger is the latest retailer to join the Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance as a partner.

The supermarket conglomerate will implement the DPCA's Diabetes Control Program, which is designed to help patients gain better control of their condition, at select store pharmacies, including stores in the Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, markets. The retailer also will offer the program in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas later this year.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — As part of Earth Month in Illinois, Gov. Patrick Quinn Tuesday morning toured a Walgreens drug store in Oak Park that features the first geothermal energy system used in a chain drug store in the country, Walgreens stated in a release.

NEW YORK — Vichy Labs has developed Capital Soleil, a new line of sun care products that will be sold at select CVS/pharmacy, Duane Reade and Walgreens locations.

This new full range of sun care products features an advanced UV filtering system to provide broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection, and employs an antioxidant combination of white grape polyphenols and vitamin E that helps provide cellular protection and neutralizes almost all types of skin-aging free radicals, the manufacturer stated.

BOISE, Idaho — Albertson's LLC, which operates more than 200 stores across seven states under the Albertsons banner, announced it has joined the Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance.

The retail grocery chain joins such companies as UnitedHealth Group, YMCA, Walgreens and Novo Nordisk as a DPCA partner. Albertson's LLC will participate in the DCPA's Diabetes Control Program, offering its customers community-based programs that help prevent and control diabetes.

NEW YORK — Drug stores may be best positioned to navigate any headwinds whipped up by rising fuel costs and may even benefit from them, a Credit Suisse analysis published Friday found.

CHICAGO — Walgreens' chief marketing officer Kim Feil was inducted into the In-Store Marketing Institute Hall of Fame Thursday morning in Chicago.

Feil was a seasoned consumer packaged goods marketer when she joined Walgreens in fall 2008. As company CEO Greg Wasson recently noted, she propelled Walgreens from being a good advertiser to a world-class marketing organization.

MIAMI — The utilization of specialty pharmacy is projected to steadily increase, Walgreens VP clinical affairs David Lorber told attendees Tuesday at the Pinsonault Associates Managed Markets Summit, which accentuates a need to augment patient compliance and help payers get a handle on what have become rapidly shifting economics.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The board of directors for Walgreens declared a quarterly dividend that was 27.3% above last year.

The dividend, valued at 17.5 cents per share, is payable June 11 to shareholders of record May 20.

Walgreens noted that it has paid a dividend in 314 straight quarters (or 78 years) and has raised its dividend for 35 consecutive years.