ALTRIA GROUP TAKING MAJOR STAKE IN CANADIAN MARIJUANA PROVIDER Altria Group Inc. will invest $2.4 billion in Canadian cannabis producer Cronos Group Inc sending a smoke signal that Big Tobacco wants into the pot sector as the global market for weed continues to grow. The deals have the Virginia-based parent of the company behind Marlboro, Parliament and other cigarette brands will acquire a 45 per cent ownership stake in Cronos with the initial investment. Plus open the door for the company to invest an additional $1.4 billion within four years that would increase its ownership stake in the Toronto-based pot producer to 55 per cent under the arrangement.
THE ABC’S OF TACKLING HEALTH-CARE COSTS
Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that it is teaming with Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences unit, on improving outcomes for patients with chronic conditions.
The partnership would increase access to Verily’s technology by deploying them at Walgreens’ pharmacies. A big focus for the companies will be medication adherence, which costs the U.S. health care system some $100 billion to $289 billion a year. Much of this cost is due to increased hospitalizations for patients who get sick when they don’t take their medication as prescribed.
The Walgreens collaboration is the unit’s first known partnership in the pharmacy space.
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