CVS Caremark (Woonsocket, R.I.), the nation’s second largest drugstore chain, announced on Wednesday its plan to discontinue sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products in its 7,600 stores by October 1, making it the first national pharmacy chain to take this step.
It also marks a major development for one of the country’s largest healthcare companies, which said it is giving up about $2 billion in annual sales, or about 1.6 percent of the company’s 2012 revenues.
“As the delivery of healthcare evolves with an emphasis on better health outcomes, reducing chronic disease and controlling costs, CVS Caremark is playing an expanded role in providing care,” Larry J. Merlo, president and chief executive officer, CVS Caremark, said in a statement. “Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose.”
The company anticipates making up some of the lost revenue and income with a national smoking cessation program, slated to launch this spring. The program will be available at all CVS pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations.
In a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Viewpoint published online Wednesday, CVS Caremark chief medical officer Troyen A. Brennan, M.D., M.P.H and co-author Steven A. Schroeder, director, Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, University of California, San Francisco, wrote, “The paradox of cigarette sales in pharmacies has become even more relevant recently, in large part because of changes in the pharmacy industry. Most pharmacy chains are retooling themselves as an integral part of the healthcare system. They are offering more counseling by pharmacists, an array of wellness products and outreach to clinicians and healthcare centers. Perhaps more important, pharmacies are moving into the treatment arena, with the advent of retail health clinics. These retail clinics, originally designed to address common acute infections, are gearing up to work with primary care clinicians to assist in treating hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes all conditions exacerbated by smoking.”
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the CVS decision was “an unprecedented step in the retail industry” and predicted it would have “considerable impact.”