HEALTH

NEW YORK That $4.4 billion opportunity is really only the tip of the iceberg. The real opportunity, especially for pharmacists and their nurse practitioner/physician assistant partners, is in the ancillary services that will accompany the functionality behind wireless diagnostic devices — think a medication therapy management/chronic disease coaching one-two punch.

Louise: [Sneezing and coughing incessantly.] HAAAA-CHOOOOOOO! Oh, Harry! Can you believe the doctor won’t be able to see me until a week from next Monday?

Harry: A week from next Monday? That’s almost two weeks from now. That seems like an awfully long time to wait—what if it’s something serious?

Louise: At this rate, whatever it is, I’ll either be all better or stone dead by the time I get an appointment!

NEW YORK It’s a study that probably couldn’t have come at a better time given the recent recall in this space, except you may not yet have heard of the zinc study. That’s because for all the major news media outlets that quickly picked up on Matrixx’s recall a few months back on a pair of Zicam products, not one of them picked up on this news — news that not only supports the efficacy of zinc-based products, but also provides a little insight into how it may work.