HEALTH

It was the cough, cold and flu season that wasn’t. The percentage of patient visits on account of influenza-like illnesses never eclipsed the 2.4% baseline that typically marks the beginning and end of a flu season. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the closest the 2011-2012 flu season came to materializing was the week ended March 17, when 2.384% of all office visits were attributed to ILI symptoms nationwide. 


Health is what you make of it. And judging from a recent public meeting held by the Food and Drug Administration, health is about to be made a lot less expensive as the agency explores ways to expand which therapy categories can be made self-selection- and self-care-friendly through communication or diagnostic technology in conjunction with a consultation with a retail healthcare professional. 


Walgreens has implemented a new attention-grabbing way to merchandise its endcaps: a touch-screen monitor that sets the store apart from traditional retail pharmacy experiences. As part of its Chicago flagship, two endcaps across from the pharmacy feature interactive touch screens. One features information on smoking cessation, the other on heart health. 


Several health-and-wellness programs targeting professional drivers have been gaining traction in the past few months. And for the consumer packaged goods industry, professional drivers represent a crucial cog in the whole supply chain. But it’s a cog that happens to be heavily indexed across many chronic disease states (e.g., obesity, diabetes, heart health) — and for a simple reason. There just aren’t that many healthy choices for those drivers putting the hammer down on the big road.


A lot of retailers offer screenings for everything from diabetes to allergies, but what sets Sam’s Club apart is the scale on which it delivers them. The club retailer offers screenings for everything from heart health and women’s health to diabetes. In a recent interview with Drug Store News, director of business development for health and wellness Angie Muldoon said that the company had conducted more than 1 million screenings in 2011.


It’s called automated retailing. While retail merchants MaxWellness and Kroger are still in the pilot phase, more or less, this should become a fast brand extension that can reach consumers in remote locations — the bus stop/train depot, the hospital, the airport, the school, the gym or inside another noncompetitive retailer’s box.


The advantages are just too good for these mini-boxes not to take hold. To begin with, there’s brand extension. Only the Internet can be as effective in attributing a national presence to a regional operator. 


STOCKHOLM — A group of industrial chemicals commonly found in cosmetics and plastics may disrupt insulin production, particularly among seniors, according to a study published in Diabetes Care.