Retail pharmacy giants have been straining below intense headwinds slamming into the trade this yr — and Walgreens’ most up-to-date earnings report is one other working example.
Dealing with a $3 billion loss within the fourth quarter, the corporate mentioned in October that it plans to shut about 1,200 decrease performing shops over the following three years, citing altering shopper habits, rising competitors from chains like Walmart and ongoing battles with pharmacy profit managers over reimbursement as chief challenges. The pharmacy chain operates practically 9,000 shops within the U.S. right now.
As Walgreens appears to regain footing, the corporate plans to reorient a concentrate on its “legacy energy as a retail pharmacy-led firm,” CEO Tim Wentworth mentioned on an earnings name.
What is going to the revamp imply for its ambitions within the medical trials house?
Launched in 2022, Walgreens’ medical trials enterprise falls below its healthcare phase, Ramita Tandon, chief medical trials officer, mentioned. Within the final quarter, the healthcare phase boasted a wholesome 7% bump in gross sales over the earlier yr, which was a vivid spot firm executives pointed to within the earnings name. However working losses additionally topped $14 billion in fiscal yr 2024, and Walgreens has indicated it may promote one in all its key segments — the first care enterprise VillageMD.
Though the destiny of its medical trials arm was lacking from Walgreens earnings statements, Tandon mentioned plans are nonetheless full steam forward.
“There’s been no affect to the enterprise,” Tandon mentioned, declaring that the upcoming retailer closures won’t have an effect on Walgreens’ 20 medical trials facilities.
“I constructed the enterprise to deal with two points — the dearth of illustration and the dearth of trial accessibility.”
Ramita Tandon
Chief medical trials officer, Walgreens
General, Walgreens’ medical trials providers are interwoven with day-to-day drugstore operations, which is able to stay aligned with wider plans to refocus on its legacy as a pharmacy.
“We’re in lock step with the broader enterprise mannequin,” Tandon mentioned.
Walgreens’ pharmacy infrastructure and a number of partnerships within the medical trials house have leveraged its distinctive potential to seize affected person knowledge and recruit various populations.
“When a affected person picks up a prescription, we now have constructed the medical trial exercise into the system in order that pharmacists get flagged that they might be eligible for a trial,” Tandon mentioned, explaining the methods Walgreens makes use of to drive recruitment.
Boehringer Ingelheim introduced in Might that the German pharma is teaming up with Walgreens to recruit and run a section 3 research for an weight problems and diabetes candidate at its medical trial facilities.
Extra lately, Walgreens introduced a partnership with the Biomedical Superior Analysis and Improvement Authority aimed toward bolstering decentralized medical trial fashions that might be used throughout a well being disaster.
“I constructed the enterprise to deal with two points — the dearth of illustration and the dearth of trial accessibility,” Tandon mentioned. “So we search for private and non-private partnerships that assist us unlock these points.”
To date, Walgreens’ medical trial recruitment efforts have reached greater than 5 million sufferers, Tandon mentioned, and the enterprise has stayed buoyant whereas different pharmacy giants have dropped out of the house.
CVS, which has closed lots of of shops in the previous few years, shuttered its medical trials enterprise in 2023 after simply two years.
Tandon mentioned she acknowledges Walgreens’ medical trials enterprise shouldn’t be a “nonprofit,” and that every partnership has to drive income to the group. Going ahead, “ongoing partnerships with pharma are going to be essential” whereas the corporate considers bringing new varieties of firms into the fold, Tandon mentioned.
“As others probably come into the ecosystem, like CROs, we consider every chance on a case-by-case foundation to have a look at trial goals and ensure it drives worth for each the companion and Walgreens,” Tandon mentioned.
