WALGREENS

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is still confident in its ability to close the Rite Aid transaction, but will force the issue if it comes to that, Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance, told analysts Wednesday morning.
 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Despite gains in prescription marketshare and comparable pharmacy sales across its U.S. base, Walgreens Boots Alliance missed analyst expectations, MarketWatch reported early Wednesday morning, precipitating a slight drop in Walgreens Boots Alliance shares in premarket trading.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Last week’s Walgreens Flu Index found that a number of states, including the Carolinas, Tennessee and Louisiana, continue to see widespread flu activity in the final week of March.

For the week of March 26, the top 10 markets by flu activity according to the Walgreens Flu Index were:

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The deal between Walgreens and pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics to form a combined central specialty pharmacy and mail services company has been closed, the companies announced Monday.

NEW YORK — The latest move by Walgreens Boots Alliance in its pursuit of the Rite Aid deal may be a bet that a Trump-appointed FTC chief will finally push the deal through.

 ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance, an organization of private label manufacturers and retailers, on Wednesday announced it will be publishing the first ANSI-approved standards for the production of dietary supplements this spring, with additional standards for beauty products, OTC medicines and medical devices to come this fall.

“We’ve had tremendous participation from store brand retailers, manufacturers, trade associations and certification bodies,” said Casey Coy, interim manager of the GRMA.

NEW YORK — Walgreens and Duane Reade have dropped out of the Blink Health pharmacy network, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

“We offered to extend our existing agreement with Blink while we continued discussions, and they decided not to accept that offer,” a spokesperson for Walgreens Boots Alliance told WSJ. “We have been very clear to Blink that we remain open to discussions to reach an agreement.

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Moe Alkemade, former Walgreens group VP/general manager for convenience, will join private brand manufacturer TreeHouse Foods as SVP and chief strategy officer, effective April 24, the company announced Tuesday.

He will report to Sam Reed, TreeHouse chairman and CEO. The move reunites Alkemade with Rachel Bishop, who joined Treehouse from Walgreens in 2014.