Chain Drug Review, November 19, 2018

Chain Drug Review November 19 2018 47 Chain Drug Review November 19 2018 Newsmakers News QuickChek Closing Rxs QuickChek is closing its pharmacy departments and transferring patient prescription files to CVS Pharmacy as it will focus more on fresh food and beverages The decision affects nine New Jersey convenience stores out of the 159 QuickChek locations throughout New Jersey and New Yorks Hudson Valley and Long Island regions myMatrixx Unveils Tool MyMatrixx a subsidiary of Express Scripts Holding Co has released myData Sense an innovative and customizable digital analytics tool that will help drive patient safety and savings The myDataSense tool combines comprehensive data clinical pharmacy expertise and a world class customer service model Merck Names Scholefield CIO and DO Merck announced the appointment of Jim Scholefield as chief information and digital officer Scholefield will be responsible for leading Mercks information technology and digital strategy and will be a member of the companys Executive Committee Scholefield joins Merck from NIKE Inc where he was the companys chief information officer Marcelie Tucker AllianceRx Walgreens Prime AllianceRx Walgreens Prime has named Marcelie Tuck Tucker as chief human resources officer Tucker who most recently was vice president of human resources with Dover Corp s refrigeration and food equipment segment will join the executive leadership team based in the companys Orlando Fla headquarters William Chase AbbVie William Chase executive vice president and CFO informed AbbVie that he plans to retire from the company in mid 2019 Effective October 19 Chase was appointed executive vice president of finance and administration and Robert Michael was appointed senior vice president and CFO Michael will continue to report to Chase in his new role Lisa Hines PQA Lisa Hines Pharmacy Quality Alliances PQAs senior director of measure operations and analytics has been appointed to two working groups of the National Academy of Medicines Action Collaborative on Countering the U S Opioid Epidemic Hines will serve on the Prescribing Guidelines and Evidence Standards and Research Data and Metrics working groups Keith Olsen UNMC Keith Olsen was named dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy An alumnus of the university Olsen was on the colleges faculty from 1993 to 2015 RelayRx Billing Deployed RelayHealth Pharmacy Solutions a part of the McKesson Prescription Technology Solutions business rolled out RelayRx Medical Billing The pharmacy platform is designed to enable retail pharmacists to document and bill for clinical services that may be covered under a patients medical benefit plan such as immunizations diabetes education point of care testing and more Tops Drop Boxes Tops Friendly Markets installed prescription drug drop off boxes in 20 stores allowing shoppers to dispose of unused and unwanted medications during normal pharmacy hours PQS Expands Performance management services provider Pharmacy Quality Solutions expanded into Canada in a partnership with Loblaw Cos The company will integrate the EQuIPP information management platform to facilitate pharmacy quality initiatives RXSafe Partners RxSafe has announced a partnership with McKesson Canada to bring blister card filling automation to the U S retail pharmacy market Designed by McKesson Canada the BlistAssist system is an innovative software driven solution that improves the manual preparation and verification of single or multi med blister cards Under the agreement with McKesson Canada RxSafe will be the exclusive distributor of the BlistAssist system in the U S FLAVORx Honored FLAVORx was named the recipient of H E B Pharmacys Service Supplier of the Year Award at the recent 2018 H E B Pharmacy Conference The award honors companies that provide products and services that allow H E B partners to service their customers safely and efficiently stay ahead in the industry and maximize their workforce through innovative programs and automation More Transparent DTC Ads WASHINGTON To help patients make more informed health care decisions Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America PhRMA member companies have committed to providing more transparency about medicine costs The companies direct to consumer DTC television advertisements will soon direct patients to information about medicine costs including the list price of the medicine out of pocket costs or other context about the potential cost of the medicine and available financial assistance The biopharmaceutical industry will also launch a new platform that will provide patients caregivers and providers with cost and financial assistance information for brand name medicines as well as other patient support resources Our member companies are taking a new approach to how they communicate about medicines in DTC television advertisements to make it easier for patients to access information about medicine costs said Steve Ubl president and chief executive officer of PhRMA The administration and Congress have called on our industry to provide cost information in DTC advertisements and our members are voluntarily stepping up to the plate Last month the organizations board of directors adopted enhancements to PhRMAs voluntary DTC principles Guiding Principles on Direct to Consumer Advertisements About Prescription Medicines originally adopted in 2006 The DTC principles have been expanded to include a new guiding principle stating All DTC television advertising that identifies a medicine by name should include direction as to where patients can find information about the cost of the medicine such as a company developed website including the list price and average estimated or typical patient out of pocket costs or other context about the potential cost of the medicine All current PhRMA members have voluntarily and independently committed to being signatories to the updated principles The revised principles become effective on April 15 but changes to PhRMA members DTC television advertisements will begin in the coming months Signatory companies CEOs and chief compliance officers will certify on an annual basis that they have policies and procedures in place to foster compliance with the updated principles The revision represents a big change for our companies and it will require significant operational changes for individual companies to implement commented Ubl But we believe this is the right thing to do and is an important step toward providing patients with the information they want Over the last decade PhRMA member companies have shown their commitment to patients through the existing Partnership for Prescription Assistance PPA program helping more than 10 million patients access their medications for free or nearly free However in todays changing health care landscape the companies want to do more To that end PhRMA also announced that is it is partnering with consumer patient pharmacist provider and consumer groups including Cancer Care the National Alliance on Mental Illness National Consumers League National Community Pharmacists Association National Hispanic Council on Aging and National Medical Association to develop a new patient affordability platform that will launch in early 2019 Focus Steve Ubl PhRMA Glenmark Opens First U S Facility PARAMUS N J Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced the official inauguration of its manufacturing site in Monroe N C last month The Monroe facility will serve as the first manufacturing site for Glenmark in the United States and the company anticipates the site will grow well beyond its current 168 employees The Glenmark site is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer in the Charlotte N C region Our investment in Monroe is a key priority for Glenmark and contributing to the surrounding community through high quality job creation and educational investments is a critical success factor as we expand our global manufacturing operations into the U S said Robert Matsuk president of North America and global API at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals We have a commitment to long term growth and expansion in North Carolina and we are thankful for the mutual support from our community partners in helping realize those goals In partnership with South Piedmont Community College Glenmark has helped design and fund a training Glenmark has invested more than 100 million in the facility program to facilitate learning and development on technical safety leadership and process improvement tools and techniques for all employees To date more than 200 people have been trained through this program With more than 100000 square feet the Monroe facility is designed to manufacture a variety of fixed dose pharmaceutical formulations Glenmark has invested more than 100 million in the facility with plans for further expansion in the coming years At peak capacity the site is anticipated to produce 300 million to 400 million tablets and capsules 20 million to 25 million vials and prefilled syringes and 25 million to 30 million ampoules for inhaled formulations Globally Glenmark has 16 worldclass manufacturing facilities across four continents operating under Good Manufacturing Practices to ensure quality and safety nine of which are registered with the Food and Drug Administration