Chains' ties run deep on pharmacy boards, who runs our states pharmacy boards?
USA today report:
When the Illinois Board of Pharmacy meets, Philip Burgess, national director of pharmacy affairs at Walgreens (WAG), the Illinois-based firm that's the nation's largest drugstore chain in sales and profits, chairs the sessions.
Michael Podgurski, vice president of pharmacy services for Rite Aid, (RAD) leads pharmacy board meetings in Pennsylvania, the headquarters of the East Coast's largest pharmacy chain.
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Bob Dufour, the former director of pharmacy services for Arkansas-based Wal-Mart (WMT), chairs that state's board.
Kay Hanson, the pharmacy regulatory affairs manager for Target (TGT), serves on the board in Minnesota, the firm's corporate base. And James DeVita, CVS' (CVS) quality assurance director, is on the Massachusetts board
The five executives aren't the only retail chain pharmacists who serve on the state panels assigned to oversee prescription drug safety for the American public. A USA TODAY examination shows employees of major drugstore chains or supermarket pharmacies accounted for nearly one in four of the 295 pharmacists on the panels this year.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2008-12-30-pharmacies-boards-mistakes-prescriptions_N.htm