I am more concerned about pharma companies mergers because of the loss of research and development of new drugs every time a pharma company gets eaten by another company. but this and CVS taking over all of Targets pharmacies (that one is weird–something else is on the horizon on that one…I think) but this is not good for anybody in my opinion. yes it is their right…just not good!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/10/27/walgreens-rite-aid/74684642/
R&D is expensive and risky, yet the public clamors for cheaper drugs, not new or better ones.
Retail mergers have been a problem here. Vons/Safeway and Albertson’s merged, which meant the the FTC said they had to sell ~150 stores that were close to each other. The tiny chain that bought them, Haggen, made a mess of it and is now in bankruptcy and all their California stores will close before Thanksgiving. So, we will have a bunch of big supermarkets standing empty, and probably subsequent business failures in the shopping centers anchored by these supermarkets.
Now, Walgreen’s and RiteAid will be merging, so we’ll probably have a large number of drugstores either sold or empty. RiteAid was never as good as the Thrifty chain they acquired anyway (at least they kept the ice cream), but empty stores are bad for a neighborhood. And, the CVS stores are inferior to the Longs stores they merged with several years back.
I think CVS and Target may merge in the near future. how can target allow cvs to come in and takeover their pharmacies and express clinics? the explanation target gave made no sense to me. cvs is a competitor pure and simple on lots of items (not all, but a big chunk) just weird or the end game is a merger or something.
Pharma mergers and buyouts is nottin’ new.
I’m more worried about Starwood taking over Hyatt. But the alternative is a Chinese buyer, so the lesser of the two evils will do.
I hope Target doesn’t start acting like CVS. I go to Target because they can fill my Rx in 15 minutes. The wait is often longer at CVS. CVS prices are usually higher too. Will this jut be for Rx’s or does “pharmacy” include the whole dept of health, such as ibuprofen, bandaids, vitamin etc…the things that are higher priced at CVS?
bunsenburner–pharma mergers are nothing new…but with each merger a lot of R and D always disappears. and the mergers keep coming also some pharma companies are doing major scale backs on R and D without mergers.
patsam --I hope not …but I think this is going to turn into a merger soon. this is like testing the waters or something…or some advanced integration perhaps.
I find CVS is so slow that you could be the only person in the store they could have 15 pharmacists behind the counter 20 pharm techs and 10 cashiers and all you need is a pre packaged Rx and it will be 2 hours. ( at least the 2 or 3 stores near my home)
I work in a completely different industry, and it is rife with takeovers. The company I work for was taken over very recently by a company that has been gobbling up its competitors left and right, and was also bought out by an umbrella holding company that won’t stop buying other companies – that’s its sole purpose of existence. It’s terrible.
Not only does it affect consumers who deal with companies that amass a virtual monopoly on the market, but job seekers have fewer and fewer places to apply to work. If they leave one company to work for a competitor, they might soon be working for the previous company again after a takeover (unless they’re deemed “redundant” and let go, and then they would have nowhere else to apply to in their field that is decent because all the thriving companies were bought out already).
“bunsenburner–pharma mergers are nothing new…but with each merger a lot of R and D always disappears”
Not true. Displaced R&D folks start new ventures. Small startups are the R&D leaders, not big behemoths. Read up on the history of Immunex and its buyout by Amgen as one example.
Small pharm companies mostly have an exit plan to be bought out when their drugs are approved or close to approved. Exit plans are needed when you accept venture capital.
We don’t have a Target, but don’t big stores like that often have embedded third-party vendors like insurance companies, photography studios, or whatever?
Wow, is “15 pharmacists behind the counter 20 pharm techs and 10 cashiers” an exaggeration? We generally only have 1-2 of each category at any pharmacy I’ve been to. Wait times must be different various places; I’ve never waited more than 30 minutes even for something that needed to be mixed.
ynotgo—there was a little sarcasm in my statement as you can tell.
p.s. the cvs near me probably has 4 people working in the front and RX counter total at any given time.
it is terrible.
bunsenburner…that is not completely true! I root for every start up in all industries including pharma. but while some displaced researchers get to re-launch themselves and be a part of new and exciting things. the net gain for R and D from those handful of start ups that get funding and get into the “game” is not enough to offset the major r and d centers being shut down!
Show me the data.
Not all R&D is created equal. Some is just more of the same… Not innovation.
I use CVS exclusively for my prescriptions, I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to get one filled. If it’s a over the phone refill I choose the time I want to pick it up and it’s always ready. My CVS always has several pharmacists working and several counter people at the pharmacy and one at the drive thru window.
@BunsenBurner, what’s wrong with Starwood? We stayed at the Westin Georgetown (Starwood) over the weekend and people I met said they had friends staying in the Park Hyatt across the street and the Westin was much nicer, in their opinion.
I will miss the Canvas. Plus, the Starwoods in HI are not as nice as the Hyatts. 
I would not challenge the idea that some new start up biotech/pharma companies have better, more nimble and fresh ways to do R and D with less bureaucracy involved. but I also would not say that big older pharma companies have no ability to adapt and do R and D in new and interesting ways.
Oh, ok. What’s the Canvas?
Please do not lump R and D together. I thought your main complaint was about the loss of innovative edge, no? Bigger cos are better at doing the D part - simply because they have the infrastructure in place. But D is not where innovation comes from - it comes from R, and smaller players are much better set up to do this. If you complain about the overall job market losses, sure.