Merck-Medco Opens ‘World’s Largest Automated Pharmacy’
Pharmacy benefits manager Merck-Medco today opened the world's largest automated pharmacy in Willingboro, N.J., the AP/Bergen Record reports. The seven-acre facility contains more than two miles of "computer-controlled conveyor systems" that are linked to approximately 1,000 bulk containers of "popular" medications. The system can fill an estimated 6,700 prescriptions per hour, without "putting the wrong pill in the wrong bottle," company officials said. The system, coupled with Merck-Medco's plan to shift long-term mail-order prescriptions from brand-name to generic drugs, "means the company can fill a prescription cheaper than a retail drugstore," the AP/Record reports. Merck-Medco handles prescriptions for 65 million Americans covered by large private and government insurance plans each year (AP/Bergen Record, 11/12).
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