North Dakota Pharmacy Ownership Law Upheld
Bismarck, ND — Pharmacy owners in North Dakota are celebrating the victory of upholding a state law that requires a licensed pharmacist to own at least 51% of a pharmacy in that state. The law effectively locks out some large national chains such as Walgreens and Wal-Mart from operating pharmacies within its stores in North Dakota. If a chain located in the state wants to operate a pharmacy department and is not owned by a licensed pharmacist, the only other way is for the chain to lease space to a licensed pharmacist. It is estimated that North Dakota has approximately 245 pharmacies, 20 of which are older chains with pharmacies that were grandfathered in since they were doing business in the state in 1963, when the ownership law was originally passed. The law has survived many challenges over the years, including one at the U.S. Supreme Court that was upheld in 1974.

P&G Drug Unit for Sale
Cincinnati, OH — Procter & Gamble (P&G) is putting its pharmaceutical unit up for sale, and according to Bloomberg.com, it could be valued at as much as $4 billion and is likely to draw bids from Forest Laboratories, Inc., Endo Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc., and Warner Chilcott Ltd. Each company may want one or more pieces of the P&G pharmaceutical enterprise. Attracting the bidders are P&G's three key products: the osteoporosis drug Actonel; Asacol, indicated for the management of ulcerative colitis; and Enablex, for overactive bladder.

New Pharmacy School Gets ACPE's Attention
Baltimore, MD — The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) has given precandidate status to the College of Notre Dame, which will allow the new school of pharmacy to move forward. The school will admit its first students into its inaugural class, which is scheduled to begin this fall. "There has been a great deal of interest in the school, with more than 500 applications having been received," reported founding dean Anne Y. F. Lin, PharmD. Precandidate status is the first step to full accreditation, which won't happen until the school's PharmD program has met all ACPE standards for accreditation and has graduated its first class. The school plans to enroll approximately 70 students per class and will be open to women and men; it will provide a distinctive focus on leadership development and women's health care across the lifespan. It will be the first pharmacy school in the U.S. to be located on the campus of a women's college.

Walgreens to Cut 1,000 Corporate Jobs
Deerfield, IL — Walgreens is eliminating approximately 1,000 positions (about 9% of those currently employed in corporate and field management) through a combination of voluntary and involuntary programs. The cuts are part of the company's "Rewiring for Growth" program, which is designed to leverage the value of its core businesses. As part of the program, the company is enabling eligible employees to voluntarily resign or retire from the company with severance pay and benefits coverage based on years of service and retirement eligibility. The company's goal is $1 billion in annual savings by fiscal year 2011.

FDA Panel Recommends 50-Year-Old Drug Be Pulled From Market
Rockville, MD — In a close decision, the FDA's panel of medical experts has recommended that Darvon and Darvocet be pulled from the market based on concerns that the drugs' risks outweigh their benefits. The final decision will ultimately be made by the FDA, but because of the narrow 14-to-12 vote to yank the drugs, it is not clear whether the FDA will actually go through with the final order to take them off pharmacists' shelves. The panel's recommendation was partly the result of a petition from Public Citizen, a public-advocacy organization that challenged the drugs' efficacy versus their risk of causing heart problems.