Pharmacy Business

STOCKTON, Calif. - Fifty-nine Raley's supermarkets in Northern California averted a shutdown of their pharmacy operations yesterday when the chain called the pharmacists' union back to the negotiating table, according to a report in The Stockton Record.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than half of supermarket operators say that pharmacy operations are a very important part of their business strategy, and nearly 70 percent say that it will be an important component by 2004, according to a new FMI report.

NEW YORK - No. 1 drug chain Walgreen Co. on Thursday became the latest retailer to say it may have to pull out of a state Medicaid program because of cutbacks in reimbursements, Reuters reports.

NEW YORK - Pathmark narrowly avoided a walkout by some 800 pharmacists and technicians with a last-minute contract agreement, reported the New York Times.

NEW YORK - Pharmacy workers at 47 Pathmark stores in New York City and four suburban counties have said they may strike on Monday unless they are promised higher wages in current contract talks, The New York Times reports.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Timothy J. Noonan, the former Rite Aid Corp. executive who helped federal prosecutors build a securities-fraud case against his colleagues, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of withholding information from the company's internal investigators.

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Walgreen Co. on Monday posted record earnings in the third quarter, reporting a 21 percent jump in profits and plans for more expansion.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House Wednesday approved a bill to increase funding for bioterrorism preparedness by $4.6 billion and to renew the law under which prescription drugmakers pay "user fees" to the FDA to speed the drug review process, Reuters reports.