A number of readers have asked me to highlight interesting articles that I come across but don’t have time to comment on. Let me know what you think about this type of post. Perhaps I’ll make it a regular feature of the blog. Pharmacists prefer McCain to Obama (Drug Topics) – Based on a July/August (pre-convention) survey of 903 pharmacists: 55% of pharmacists prefer McCain vs. 35% for Obama. In contrast, the pharmaceutical/health industry has given 2.5X more to Obama than to McCain. (Source: OpenSecrets.)
Wal-Mart, Your Friendly Drugstore (Business Week) – As I have been suggesting for more than two years on the blog, Wal-Mart (WMT) will radically reshape the pharmacy industry. (See Walgreens’ $4.33 Surrender to Wal-Mart for background.) Health and wellness products (including pharmacy sales) made up 9% of Wal-Mart's overall $374.5 billion in revenues in the 12 months ended Jan. 31, 2008. The article summarizes Wal-Mart’s aggressive ambitions and would make a great conversation starter at your next management get-together.
Cardinal forging deal with DEA (Columbus Dispatch) – Cardinal Health’s (CAH) ongoing struggles with diversion by its pharmacy customers are finally ending. (See Cardinal Apologizes for background.) On the company’s August 7 earnings call, CEO George Barrett estimated that the DEA issues resulted in about $1 billion (!) in lost sales, which I estimate were lost primarily from independent pharmacy customers.
Tightening the Chain (Pharmaceutical Executive) – Here's a quick update on mass serialization efforts in
Health Wonk Review -- Check out the latest edition of this bi-weekly review of health policy blogging from around the web, hosted this time by InsureBlog.
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Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go figure out how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall (pictured above). Oh boy.
