Specialty Pharmacy

As a specialty pharmacy provider, BioScrip probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when one hears “retail pharmacy,” but its network of 31 community pharmacies around the country gives it a comfy spot at the table. The kinds of products and services it’s able to offer — ranging from home infusion and treatments for complex, chronic disease states to over-the-counter medications and sometimes even consumables — as a result of its combination of community pharmacy and specialty pharmacy make BioScrip stand out.


PITTSBURGH — Mylan has launched a generic treatment for breast cancer, the drug maker said Monday.

Mylan announced the launch of letrozole tablets in the 2.5-mg strength, an adjuvant treatment for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early-stage breast cancer.

The drug is the first generic version of Novartis’ Femara, which had sales of about $682 million in 2010, according to IMS Health.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is taking its case directly to Cephalon’s shareholders in its effort to acquire the Frazer, Pa.-based drug maker.

In a letter to the shareholders Thursday, Valeant said its $73-per-share offer, totaling $5.7 billion, was a 29% premium over the 30-day stock price of Cephalon, noting that the price had declined over the last five years and that the average stock price in the month before the offer was $57, which Wall Street analysts didn’t expect to rise above $60.

OMAHA, Neb. — Specialty pharmacy provider Amber Pharmacy and pharmacy retailer Kubat Pharmacy have joined the first network to electronically exchange clinical patient information and medication therapy with healthcare providers in and around Nebraska, the Nebraska Health Information Initiative said Wednesday.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Genentech for the treatment of two rare inflammatory disorders, the agency said.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Sagent Pharmaceuticals has increased the number of shares it’s issuing in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq, the drug maker said Wednesday.

Originally planning to offer 5 million shares, the company has increased that number to 5.75 million shares at $16 per share.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 862,500 shares at the IPO price. The offering is expected to close next Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is looking to curb the growing national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, according to a plan unveiled Tuesday.

Elements of the plan include expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommendation of convenient and environmentally responsible drug-disposal methods, education and reduction of doctor shopping.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — U.S. spending on drugs grew 2.3% to $307.4 billion in 2010, according to a new report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, part of industry research firm IMS Health.