In this Issue

Walmart’s Annie Walker

How can retailers and manufacturers work together to not only be partners in managing consumers’ disease states, but also to help educate a new generation about the importance of prevention? This was the driving question a panel of leading consumer health executives tackled in June, at a special one-day thought leadership conference in Bentonville, Ark., co-hosted by Drug Store News and Mack Elevation Forum.

Lovepop Cards, a Harvard-based greeting card start-up, landed a $300,000 investment from investor Kevin O’Leary, on ABC’s “Shark Tank” TV show in December. Every card design starts as a sketch on paper that is translated to a modeling software, in which each shape is drawn. Those shapes are then transferred to a software that routs a laser-cutter to cut out each piece. Since January, the company has had about 40,000 customers and will do roughly $1 million in sales this year, according to the company.

Having been around for 39 years, Spartanburg, S.C.-based pharmacy solutions company QS/1 has seen the pharmacy business change several times, all the while providing tools to help pharmacies navigate the changes and provide services to their patients. As pharmacy shifts its focus to outcomes and implements more clinical services, QS/1 knows that its latest solution will be able to assist in managing the increasing amount of documents pharmacies deal with on a daily basis.

One disconnect Bausch + Lomb’s John Ferris sees in the conversation about health care is the relative lack of attention paid to eye health — even though age-related macular degeneration affects two-and-a-half times more people than Alzheimer’s disease, and baby boomers are as concerned about vision loss as contracting heart disease and cancer.

The front-end opportunity surrounding patients with diabetes is significant. Diabetes patients are spending between $1,000 and $2,500 each year on diabetes supplies alone, noted Sally Manoufar, senior manager health and wellness at Johnson & Johnson, during a recent GMDC webcast. According to Johnson & Johnson research, the front-end basket of a diabetes patient is five times larger than that of a patient who doesn’t have diabetes.

Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare manufactures more than 5,000 products — most of which consumers haven’t heard of or thought of as part of the DME portfolio. And according to SVP product management David Cohon, the main task that specialty DME stores have — and the task that presents the most opportunity in the omnichannel retail space — is providing a knowledge resource at the point-of-sale.

“We are on the verge of an economic crisis that could disrupt the whole U.S. healthcare system.” Our lack of preventive health care — and the implications of that — was a theme conveyed by numerous economists, healthcare entrepreneurs and technology experts gathered at a special thought leadership event co-produced by Mack Elevation and Drug Store News.

Pfizer’s Nexium 24HR is the clear leader in the digestive aisle. However, in March 2017, store-brand versions of Nexium 24HR will be available. Perrigo has already secured a tentative approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its OTC Nexium 24HR generic equivalent. “We are currently working with our retail customers in making plans to launch the item as soon as possible after the late March 2017 market exclusivity period expires for the national brand,” John Henderickson, Perrigo president and CEO, recently told investors.