Tag Archives: Walgreens

Walgreens Agrees To Pay Massive Opioids Settlement

The Associated Press reports: Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $350 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, who accused the pharmacy of illegally filling millions of prescriptions in the last decade for opioids and other controlled substances. The nationwide drugstore chain must pay the government at least $300 million and will owe another $50 million …

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Walgreens CEO: Locking Up Many Items Has Backfired

CBS News reports: Locking up store merchandise can deter shoplifters and paying customers alike, according to Walgreens.  The pharmacy chain’s CEO Tim Wentworth said in Walgreens Boots Alliance’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday that “When you lock things up … you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.” Keeping retail products under lock and key …

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Walgreens To Shutter 1200 Stores Over Three Years

NBC News reports: Walgreens said Tuesday it plans to close 1,200 stores over the next three years as it seeks to further downsize its footprint amid flagging sales and changing consumer behavior. The pharmacy chain said 500 of the closings would occur over the next 12 months. It estimates a quarter of its 8,700 stores in the U.S. are unprofitable. …

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Walgreens Expected To Shutter Hundreds Of Stores

CNN Business reports: Walgreens is set to close a substantial number of its roughly 8,600 locations across the United States as the company looks to reset the struggling pharmaceutical chain’s business. The company didn’t announce a specific number of store closures, but it said Thursday that it is planning “significant” closures of underperforming stores across America as part of a …

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CVS And Walgreens To Begin Selling Abortion Pills

The New York Times reports: The two largest pharmacy chains in the United States will start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone this month, a step that could make access easier for some patients. Officials at CVS and Walgreens said in interviews on Friday that they had received certification to dispense mifepristone under guidelines that the Food and Drug Administration issued …

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Walgreens And CVS Pharmacy Staff Begin Walkout

Reuters reports: Some employees at CVS Health Corp and Walgreens Boots Alliance’s U.S. pharmacies launched a three-day walkout starting Monday to get the companies to improve working conditions and recruit more people, among other issues. The walkout, which the organizers have dubbed “Pharmageddon”, is the third strike by pharmacists in a little over one month. Shane Jerominski, one of the …

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CA Nixes $54M Walgreens Deal Over Abortion Pills

Bloomberg News reports: California will no longer renew a $54 million contract with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. following the drugstore chain’s decision to stop dispensing abortion pills in several states, according to Governor Gavin Newsom. The action comes a day after the Democratic leader said California would stop doing business with the company. Renewal of the contract to procure specialty …

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California To Cut Ties With Walgreens Over Abortion Pills

San Francisco’s NBC affiliate reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed Walgreens in a tweet Monday morning, saying California would no longer be doing business with the chain and linking to a CNN story about the company not distributing abortion pills to 20 states. Walgreens last week announced it won’t sell abortion pills by mail to 20 conservative-led states. The statement …

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Walgreens Caves To More States On Abortion Pills

Politico reports: The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal — acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists. Walgreens told POLITICO that it has since responded to all the officials, assuring them that …

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Walgreens Caves To Kansas On Selling Abortion Pills

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports: Walgreens officials are not planning to distribute the abortion drug mifepristone in Kansas, Attorney General Kris Kobach said Monday, weeks after Kobach sent a letter to the pharmacy giant blasting their move to distribute the pill in pharmacies nationally. In the original Feb. 6 letter, Kobach said he would “not hesitate” to enforce Kansas law in …

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Walgreens To Pay WV $83M In Opioids Settlement

Charleston’s NPR affiliate reports: In a press conference Wednesday morning, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his office has reached a settlement with the national pharmaceutical chain Walgreens for $83 million. “Today, we’re announcing that the state of West Virginia is settling for $83 million for its claims against Walgreens. We have signed the agreement and we have sent …

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Pharmacy Giants Agree To Settle Opioid Suits For $14B

Reuters reports: CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, and Walmart Inc have tentatively agreed to pay about $13.8 billion to resolve thousands of U.S. state and local government lawsuits accusing the chains of mishandling opioid painkillers, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The proposed settlement calls for CVS to pay $5 billion over 10 years, Walgreens to …

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NY Warns Pharmacies Against Refusing Birth Control

Gothamist reports: New York Attorney General Letitia James sent out letters this week to CVS and Walgreens, cautioning the pharmacy giants that it is illegal in the Empire State to deny customers reproductive health products. The warnings come in response to recent news reports that employees at Walgreens stores elsewhere in the country have delayed or refused reproductive services such …

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Walgreens Staffer Refused To Sell Condoms To Woman On Religious Grounds, Company Says That’s Allowed

NBC News reports: A pair of shoppers at a Walgreens in Wisconsin said an employee refused to sell condoms to them on religious grounds — something Walgreens said is permitted under its policies. Nathan Pentz tweeted earlier this month that his partner, Jess, went to buy condoms at a store in Hayward because she forgot her birth control. He said …

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CDC: Over 80M COVID Vax Doses Wasted So Far In US

NBC News reports: Pharmacies, states, U.S. territories and federal agencies discarded 82.1 million Covid vaccine doses from December 2020 through mid-May — just over 11 percent of the doses the federal government distributed, according to data the CDC shared with NBC News. Two retail pharmacy chains, CVS and Walmart, were responsible for over a quarter of the doses thrown away …

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Five SF Walgreens To Close To Due “Organized” Thefts

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Walgreens will close five more San Francisco stores, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday, citing ongoing organized retail crime as the reason. “Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that,” said Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso. “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued …

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Opioids Trial To Open Against Four Pharmacy Giants

Reuters reports: The first trial of four large pharmacy chains over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic was set to begin on Monday, as two Ohio counties seek to convince jurors the companies are responsible for flooding their communities with addictive pain pills. The Ohio counties of Lake and Trumbull allege that oversight failures at pharmacies run by Walgreens Boots Alliance …

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Biden To Meet With Top Business Execs On Mandates

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Biden is expected to meet Wednesday with executives from companies including Walt Disney Co. , Microsoft Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. to advance his Covid-19 vaccination requirements for the private sector. The White House meeting comes after a plan Mr. Biden announced last week designed to bring the pandemic under control, which includes …

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At Least 15M Vax Doses Wasted In US Since March

NBC News reports: Pharmacies and state governments in the United States have thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News. Four national pharmacy chains reported more than 1 million wasted doses each, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response …

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Walgreens To Join CVS In $15/Hour Starting Wage

From Walgreens’ corporate blog: Walgreens is further investing in its hourly team members who provide trusted care and services in communities across the U.S. Walgreens will increase the starting hourly wage for all team members to $15.00 an hour, taking effect in phases beginning in October of this year and are expected to be fully implemented by November 1, 2022. …

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