Specialty Pharmacy

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy has several new programs in the works to promote health and wellness among its employees, the company said.

Diplomat announced a new fitness center at its headquarters that will include stationary bikes, strength-training machines, ellipticals, medicine balls, an exercise video center and a Wii system.

WASHINGTON — Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg faced strong criticism Tuesday in a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to investigate the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, but she conceded the agency could have done more.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Two Dallas-based compounding pharmacies announced a recall of sterile drug products made at their facilities due to production conditions that could lead to contamination.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that ApotheCure had recalled all sterile drug products made at its pharmacy, while NuVision Pharmacy had recalled sterile freeze-dried or lyophilized drug products made at its facility. Both recalls were described as voluntary.

LANDOVER, Md. — Giant Food of Landover, Md., is planning to raise $1.6 million for children's cancer research, the supermarket chain said Tuesday.

The Ahold USA-owned banner, also known as Giant-Landover, announced it would launch its ninth annual Triple Winner game on Friday to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Division at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and The Children's Cancer Foundation. The annual game has helped raise $11.5 million to support pediatric cancer research since its inception in 2005.

NEW YORK — Purdue Pharma's patent for OxyContin expired Tuesday, opening up the opioid painkiller to generic competition, but authorities have raised concerns about what they call the potential for generic versions to be abused.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration will not approve generic versions of Purdue Pharma's painkiller OxyContin based on earlier versions of the drug that did not include features to thwart abuse, the agency said Tuesday.

The FDA announced that it approved updated labeling for reformulated OxyContin (oxycodone) extended-release tablets indicating that it has physical and chemical properties designed to deter drug abusers from crushing or dissolving the pills in order to inject or snort them.

The health and pharmacy marketplace is undergoing rapid and fundamental transformation. To navigate profitably in tomorrow’s complex and shifting healthcare system, the pharmacy benefit management industry — along with the pharmacies and health plan payers allied with PBMs — are going to have to change and adapt as well.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson's sales increased by 8.5% to $17.5 billion in first quarter 2013, the healthcare products company said Tuesday.

The increase included a domestic sales increase of 11.2%. Profits for the quarter were $3.5 billion.