• Illinois: Last week, private equity firm Sycamore Partners finalized its acquisition of Walgreens, making the company private for the first time in almost 100 years. According to Sycamore, the company will be split into five separate businesses. Walgreens, The Boots Group, Shields Health Solutions, CareCentrix, and VillageMD will now operate as standalone companies. Sycamore also appointed Mike Motz as Walgreens' new CEO, effective immediately. Previously, Motz was CEO of Staples US Retail and president of Shoppers Drug Mart, the largest pharmacy chain in Canada. Tim Wentworth, Walgreens' former CEO, will remain on the company's board, and John Lederer, a former Walgreens Boots Alliance director and senior advisor to Sycamore, has been named executive chair of Walgreens. "Today represents an exciting new chapter and a turning point for Walgreens," Motz said. "As a private organization, alongside our dedicated team members, we are renewing our focus on our core pharmacy and retail platform, our stores and our customer experience — building on the progress that's been made." (Landi, Fierce Healthcare, 8/28; Dyrda, Becker's Hospital Review, 8/28)
• Illinois: AbbVie last week announced plans to buy Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals' investigational psychedelic drug called bretisilocin, for up to $1.2 billion. The investigational drug is used to treat major depression. In a phase 2 trial, a single dose of the drug led to a 21.6-point decrease on a depression rating scale. In comparison, a low-dose comparator resulted in a 12.1-point decrease. "The field of psychiatry represents one of the most challenging areas in medicine, with a significant need for innovative solutions," said Roopal Thakkar, AbbVie's chief scientific officer. "This acquisition underscores our commitment to broadening and enhancing psychiatric care by investing in novel treatment approaches with the potential to reach patients for whom other treatments have been ineffective." According to STAT, Abbvie has recently increased its focus on neuroscience. The company previously signed a collaboration agreement with Gilgamesh and last year acquired Cerevel Therapeutics for $9 billion. (Chen, STAT+ [subscription required], 8/25)
• Maryland: Last month, FDA announced that it has begun publishing reports of adverse events related to drugs and biological products daily instead of quarterly. "People who navigate the government's clunky adverse event reporting websites should not have to wait months for that information to become public," said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. "We're closing that waiting period and will continue to streamline the process from start to finish." According to Madris Kinard, who used to work in post-market safety at FDA, releasing data on adverse events in real time is a step in the right direction. Kinard noted that the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) does not include "narrative" information explaining what happened to patients who experienced an adverse event, which makes the database more difficult for casual observers to use. However, daily updates to FAERS would be more useful for someone who tracks adverse events related to a specific product every day. (Lawrence, STAT+ [subscription required], 8/22)

In recent years, retailers like Amazon, Walgreens, and Best Buy (among others) have made efforts to expand into the healthcare industry. But the results have been largely mixed, with many companies reducing their investments, closing clinics, and more, Caroline Hudson writes for Modern Healthcare.