Starting in mid-2009, the e-retailer will help Medco Health Solutions offer OTC product recommendations aligned with the known health conditions of its more than 60 million U.S. members. The collaboration also will provide "an advanced safety net" to screen for potential interactions between OTC remedies and Rx drugs, Bellevue, Wash.-based drugstore.com announces Nov. 20. In September, the Web site announced it will host an online store for drug store chain Rite-Aid (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 8, 2008, In Brief)

OTC net sales advanced 18.3 percent to $234.3 million in 2007, "in line with e-commerce trends, but below our expectations due to increased marketing costs in paid search and portals," the e-commerce marketer announces during a Feb. 6 analyst meeting. Gross profit for OTCs during the year advanced 19.8 percent to $69.8 million. For the fourth quarter, OTC revenues were up 17.4 percent to $65.8 million, while gross profit for the period advanced 31.6 percent to $20.5 million. Drugstore.com's net sales for the full year grew 7.2 percent to $445.7 million, though the firm experienced a $9 million loss during the quarter, an improvement over a loss of $13 million last year. In 2008, the company plans to fuel top-line revenue growth in part by driving OTC sales up 20 percent year-over-year, the company says...

Biogen presented highly anticipated data in Alzheimer’s disease at CTAD for its Phase III EMERGE and ENGAGE studies, but one major question remains unanswered: will the FDA approve the drug?