CVS Takes a Stand on Pseudoephedrine Products
April 27 2005 - 7:48AM
PR Newswire (US)
CVS Takes a Stand on Pseudoephedrine Products Company Moves All
Single Ingredient Items Behind the Pharmacy Counter WOONSOCKET,
R.I., April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CVS/pharmacy (NYSE: CVS),
America's largest retail pharmacy, has made the decision to move
all over the counter single ingredient pseudoephedrine products
behind the pharmacy counter as of July 1, 2005. Pseudoephedrine is
the key precursor ingredient that can be converted into the illegal
drug methamphetamine. After careful review of numerous state
legislative proposals and law enforcement bulletins, CVS made the
decision to move these products behind the counter in all of its
5,400 stores across 36 states over the next sixty days. "As a
leader in our industry, we feel strongly that the private sector
must step up to help to reduce offenders' access to high content
forms of pseudoephedrine. We have chosen to target all the single
ingredient products that both state and federal task forces have
identified as the most frequently used products in the production
of methamphetamine," commented Chris Bodine, Executive Vice
President of Merchandising and Marketing at CVS. "As the largest
pharmacy retailer in the country, we must balance the needs of our
millions of customers who use these safe and highly effective cold
and allergy products legitimately with individual state legislative
and law enforcement efforts to stem the production of this illegal
drug across the country." "We will continue to monitor this
situation and communicate with federal, state and local officials
to respond to changes in state law or new law enforcement
initiatives. Our policy will also adapt to merchandise mix changes,
especially given manufacturers' current plans to reformulate their
existing cold and allergy products." About CVS CVS is America's
largest retail pharmacy, operating more than 5,400 retail and
specialty pharmacy stores in 36 states and the District of
Columbia. With more than 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail
pharmacy industry, CVS is committed to being the easiest pharmacy
retailer for customers to use. CVS has created innovative
approaches to serve the healthcare needs of all customers through
its CVS/pharmacy stores; its online pharmacy, CVS.com; and its
pharmacy benefit management and specialty pharmacy subsidiary,
PharmaCare. General information about CVS is available through the
Investor Relations portion of the Company's website, at
http://investor.cvs.com/, as well as through the pressroom portion
of the Company's website, at http://www.cvs.com/pressroom. CONTACT:
Eileen Howard Dunn VP, Corporate Communications CVS/pharmacy
401-770-4561 Michael DeAngelis Manager, Corporate Communications
CVS/pharmacy 401-770-2645 DATASOURCE: CVS/pharmacy CONTACT: Eileen
Howard Dunn, VP, Corporate Communications, +1-401-770- 4561, or
Michael DeAngelis, Manager, Corporate Communications,
+1-401-770-2645 both of CVS/pharmacy Web site: http://www.cvs.com/
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