HEALTH

BELLEVUE, Wash. Drugstore.com on Tuesday released a statement reminding flexible spending account participants that they need to use the money left in their accounts by the end of the year or they will lose it.

CINCINNATI Even during a time when consumers are cutting back on healthcare expenditures, the probiotics category has continued to grow, according to Procter & Gamble, which announced Wednesday that its Align probiotic has become the most recommended among gastroenterologists.

COVINGTON, Ky. A company that provides pharmaceutical care for the elderly is splitting its pharmacy services business into two divisions, hoping to make its services more effective and focused on customers.

MADISON, N.J. Newly published findings indicated that infants fed a lower-protein infant formula developed by Pfizer Nutrition gained weight at a similar rate to those who were breast-fed, according to a study published online Wednesday in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

NEW YORK According to a recently published Dow Jones report, state-funded tobacco-prevention programs quickly are becoming the latest casualty of constricting state budgets, prompting concern among public health groups around the nation's progress toward getting adult smokers to quit.

The number of adults who smoke has remained relatively steady since 2004 — 20.6% of the population were smokers in 2009.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Watson Pharmaceuticals biotech subsidiary Eden Biodesign has signed a manufacturing agreement with Dutch biotech company Crucell that will give Watson access to Crucell’s cell line technology, the two companies announced Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Eden will provide process development and current good manufacturing practice services using Crucell’s PER.C6 technology to licensees using the technology to develop vaccines and gene therapies.

NEW YORK To express it in modern parlance, follow-on biologics will be a hot mess.

While speaking at the Reuters Health Summit, according to Reuters, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg didn’t put it quite that colorfully, but she had said the science will evolve, meaning a regulatory approval pathway never will be a truly done deal.