HEALTH

PITTSBURGH — GNC on Thursday announced the launch of its GNC Longevity Factors, GNC's first and only complete line of nutritional supplements marketed for aging well. The line features supplements that support health and bioavailability enhancement technology to improve the absorption of a key antioxidant important for healthy cell aging.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — No matter how you slice it, the flexible spending account changes that are part of the overall Affordable Care Act aren’t doing a whole lot by way of saving healthcare dollars, at least not for patients. Indeed, about the only benefactors are those folks who have to make dollars and cents out of what might become the first casualty of the Obamacare healthcare package — those who have to explain how the administration plans to pay for this package, you know, by not raising taxes.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The fact that CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic was highlighted as an innovator of healthcare delivery by the World Economic Forum's Innovation Health Care Delivery Project is important on several fronts. Not only does the recognition further illustrate the important role that convenient care clinics are playing in U.S. health care, but perhaps even more importantly, this forum also was a global stage for the clinic operator.

NEW YORK — Pfizer got promising results from a late-stage clinical trial of a cancer treatment, the drug maker said Friday.

Pfizer announced results of the phase-3 “AXIS 1032” trial of the kidney cancer drug axitinib, saying that it “significantly” extended the lives of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma compared with Nexavar (sorafenib), made by Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday reported that Vigor-25, a product inappropriately marketed as a natural dietary supplement to enhance male sexual performance, should not be purchased or used because it contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in the prescription drug Viagra.

WESTPORT, Conn. — A diabetes community network is offering tips to diabetics that are traveling this holiday season.

DLife emphasized that since diabetes doesn't take a holiday, managing the condition shouldn't either. On its website, DLife.com, the company is offering such tips to diabetics as:

NEW YORK — Adding pharmacists to a primary care team could help diabetics better manage associated risks, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Alberta.

Among 153 hypertensive Type 2 diabetes patients studied, 82 who had advice from a pharmacist were more likely to reach blood pressure treatment targets recommended by the Canadian Diabetes Association.

CALGARY, Alberta — The Jean Coutu Group may be only biding its time before making another go at a pharmacy operation in the United States, the Calgary Herald reported Friday, citing Jean Coutu Group chairman Jean Coutu’s recently released autobiography, written in French.

According to the report, Coutu suggested that jettisoning the Eckerd headquarters led to the early demise of the Brooks-Eckerd deal because there “weren't enough key personnel to make the merger work.”