MOUNTAIN Gate Shopping Centre's Luks Pharmacy has been robbed for a second time by a knife-wielding bandit. The balaclava-clad thief pointed a kitchen knife at the pharmacist and demanded cash about 8.50pm on Sunday, September 30. Knox police CIU detective Sen-Sgt Neil White said the offender was last seen running south, dashing in front of cars on Mountain Gate Drive. The armed robbery comes weeks after a similar incident at the pharmacy where a person wearing a dark hooded top and balaclava threatened staff with a knife and escaped with cash. Sen-Sgt White said detectives were looking into whether the crimes were connected and wanted to hear from anyone with information on the robberies. Luks Pharmacy is the latest chemist to be targeted by criminals in Knox following a number of recent incidents. Wantirna Mall's Community Pharmacy Wantirna was broken into and pharmaceuticals taken about 1.30am on September 15 in what police believe was a spate of pseudoephedrine-based burglaries across Melbourne that night. Another break-in was reported at Knox Pharmore Pharmacy, in Wantirna South, where boxes of pseudoephedrine tablets were stolen at about 4am on June 11. Any information to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Read this article: Armed … Continue reading →

ATLANTA The pharmacy that distributed a steroid linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis has issued a voluntary recall of all of its products, calling the move a precaution. The New England Compounding Center announced the recall Saturday. The company said the move was taken out of an abundance of caution because of the risk of contamination. It says there is no indication that any other products have been contaminated. The Food and Drug Administration had previously told health professionals not to use any products distributed by the center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted updated figures to its website Sunday showing there are 91 confirmed cases of the rare form of fungal meningitis. The outbreak spans nine states and has killed at least seven people. The states with reported cases are: Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. The steroid linked to the outbreak had already been recalled, and health officials have been scrambling to notify anyone who may have received an injection of it. The Massachusetts pharmacy that made it has said it is cooperating with investigators. It is not known exactly how many people might have been affected, though it could … Continue reading →

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Michael Perry, President, BeneCard PBF, is pleased to announce that Bill Wolfe has joined the Prescription Benefit Facilitator (PBF) as the Senior Executive Vice President of Pharmacy Services. With offices in both Orlando, FL and Mechanicsburg, PA, Mr. Wolfe will directly oversee the Clinical, Compliance, Sales and Business Informatics Groups. Kenneth D. Ullman, Chairman of the Board, BeneCard PBF, noted that Bill has over 25 years of managed care and pharmacy benefit experience and is a recognized and highly regarded leader in the prescription benefits industry. He will help guide BeneCard PBF in moving forward as a change agent in the dynamic landscape of healthcare and we are excited to have Bill join our team. Mr. Wolfe remarked that the proprietary technology platforms the BeneCard PBF team has built under Kenny and Michaels direction is a clear differentiator that compliments the companies vision to transparently align with its clients while containing pharmacy and healthcare costs through improved patient outcomes. Wolfe added, The company is incredibly well positioned to be positively disruptive in the space through a technology based facilitation model that provides the framework to filter information, focus on clinical opportunities and facilitate interaction between physicians, pharmacists … Continue reading →

ORCHARD PARK, NY--(Marketwire - Oct 8, 2012) - ValueCentric, the leader in Connected Healthcare Intelligence, and the American Pharmacy Alliance (APA), the most influential technology partnership collective for independent and small chain pharmacies in the United States, today announced that they have entered into a strategic agreement to jointly deliver data solutions that connect pharmaceutical manufacturers with store-level data for independent pharmacies. Through this relationship, ValueCentric and the APA will offer on-demand data, reporting and analytics through ValueCentric's award-winning healthcare intelligence platform, ValueTrak.This comprehensive supply channel program will deliver data and analytics associated with independent store-level prescription data from participating stores among APA's 12,000 affiliated pharmacies. The program will deliver insights that pharmaceutical manufacturers can use to better focus supply chain operations, maximize marketing efforts, develop accurate, predictive financial models and develop a truly pragmatic product lifecycle plan. "APA and its pharmacy system members have a very real commitment to our goal of expanding and improving patient-level services and adding more efficiency to the healthcare delivery system," said Karl Steele, President of APA."ValueCentric is an ideal partner to help us meet that goal.Through programs like this, pharmaceutical manufacturers will be able to more easily connect with independent pharmacies to deliver … Continue reading →