Aetna said its shareholders voted Monday to approve the issuance of Aetna common shares to Humana stockholders in connection with Aetna’s proposed acquisition of Humana. Read More »

Health Mart pharmacies said Monday it is gearing up for its third series of town hall events. This series, titled “Get in Sync: Medication Synchronization,” is aimed at getting pharmacists to think about adopting appointment-based models with medication synchronization to take them from reactive prescription filling to proactive and patient-centric filling. Read More »

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) said Friday it is disappointed with the recent decision of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia that will omit all drugs with an “orphan” designation from the 340B Drug Pricing Program for rural and cancer hospitals. Read More »

The 28th annual McKesson Health Solutions Conference  (MHSC) kicked off Monday at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. More than 300 health care professionals from leading payers and providers will engage in networking, learning and focusing on a better future for health care at the conference that runs through Thursday. Read More »

AstraZeneca said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a complete response letter (CRL) about the new drug application (NDA) for the investigational fixed-dose combination of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin. The fixed-dose combination of saxagliptin and dapagliflozi is intended for the treatment of adult patients with Type 2 diabetes.  The CRL said more clinical data is required to support NDA. Read More »

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said Oct. 14 its House of Delegates named a new president and approved policy resolutions to advance patient care and tackle problems affecting businesses at the 2015 NCPA Annual Convention. Read More »

Xerox issued an update Oct. 13 on the strategic direction of its government health care business, focusing the implementation of its Health Enterprise Medicaid platform in California and Montana.Based on discussions with clients in California and Montana, Xerox said is likely it will not fully complete the implementation of the Health Enterprise Medicaid platform, its next-generation Medicaid Management Information System, in these states. Xerox said it expects to continue to process Medicaid cl Read More »

340B Health said Oct. 14 it is disappointed with a recent federal district court ruling that will drastically raise the cost of orphan drugs for rural and cancer hospitals and their patients. "This is a major setback for rural hospitals who are already struggling to keep their doors open,"  340B Health President and CEO Ted Slafsky said. Read More »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave accelerated approval to Praxbind (idarucizumab) on Oct. 16. Praxbind is intended for use in patients who are taking the anticoagulant Pradaxa (dabigatran) during emergency situations when there is a need to reverse Pradaxa’s blood-thinning effects. Praxbind and Pradaxa are marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Read More »

Drug Channels released its review of the Kaiser/HRET 2015 Employer Health Benefits Survey, which examines employer-sponsored health coverage at nearly 2,000 companies, on Oct. 13. “Bottom line: Employers didn’t make major changes this year, but they continue to shift prescription drug costs to beneficiaries and are focusing on specialty drug management,” Drug Channels’ writer Adam Fein said. Read More »

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) said on Oct. 9 that a majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives support the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act. "There is need for improving access to health care and for most Americans, pharmacists are already on the front lines of their health care," APhA Executive Vice President and CEO, Thomas Menighan said. Read More »

Canadian pharmaceutical company purchases majority shares in U.S. surgical equipment maker. Read More »

Cigna on Wednesday announced it was the only Medicare Advantage HMO health plan in Arizona to receive a perfect five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Read More »

The winners of 2015 CPhI Pharma Awards were announced this week at the CPhI Worldwide in Madrid, Spain. Read More »

Remedy Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of CIRARA, a treatment for acute central nervous system conditions where there are inadequate or no approved existing therapies, this week announced the appointment of Richard Steinhart as chief financial officer. Read More »

Diplomat Pharmacy Inc. yesterday announced it is now offering the LONSURF (trifluridine and tipiracil) combination tablet, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Read More »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Opdivo (nivolumab) to treat patients with advanced (metastatic) non-small cell lung cancer whose disease progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Read More »

CVS Health on Thursday announced that it is launching Project Health, its annual free health screening campaign, at select CVS/Pharmacy locations. Read More »

Kailos Genetics recently announced the release of PGxComplete, a comprehensive, full panel, gene-based test, which will be offered at $99 through Nov. 30. Read More »

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has created a group of female industry leaders, which it named the Women in Pharmacy Leadership Steering Committee, to research and discuss the challenges and other issues women who work in the pharmacy field face regularly. Read More »