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Christie Woolard, manager of what will soon be arguably the most remote pharmacy in North Carolina, joked that she has a “terrible commute to work each day.” In reality, Woolard more or less works from home. She lives with her dog in an apartment above Ocracoke Health Center Pharmacy on Ocracoke Island in the state’s Outer Banks. Accessible only by ferry or private plane, the island is about 26 miles from the mainland coast. (Baxley, 12/7)

CVS Health is set to close another San Francisco store early next year, a company spokesperson said Wednesday. ...“Maintaining access to pharmacy services in the communities we serve is an important factor we consider when making store closure decisions,” Thibault said in a statement. “Other factors include local market dynamics, population shifts, a community’s store density, and ensuring there are other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.” (Vaziri, 12/6)

Abbvie announced Wednesday that it will purchase Cerevel Therapeutics and its pipeline of experimental neurological and psychiatric medications for $8.7 billion. The deal marks the second billion-dollar acquisition by AbbVie in under a week. Facing the prospect of declining sales from two of its best-selling drugs, the company also acquired Immunogen and its ovarian cancer treatment for $10 billion last Thursday. (Mast, 12/6)

The top executives at French drug giant Sanofi on Wednesday defended their decision to reduce earnings forecasts for 2024 in order to fund more research studies of new medicines they say could one day generate billions of dollars in annual sales. (Herper, 12/6)

A new breed of e-cigarette has addicted teenagers and confounded regulators worldwide by offering flavors like Blue Cotton Candy and Pink Lemonade in a cheap, disposable package. The tycoon dominating this latest wave is Zhang Shengwei, 50, a veteran of China’s vape industry in the southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen. Most people have never heard of him. Zhang quietly rose over 15 years from a boutique exporter to become one of the world’s largest vape manufacturers. His main company, Heaven Gifts, now competes with industry giants Juul Labs Inc and British American Tobacco Plc in the United States, the United Kingdom and across Europe. (Kirkham and Kirton, 12/6)

Dr. William P. Murphy Jr., a biomedical engineer who was an inventor of the vinyl blood bag that replaced breakable bottles in the Korean War and made transfusions safe and reliable on battlefields, in hospitals and at scenes of natural disasters and accidents, died on Thursday at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 100. His death was confirmed on Monday by Mike Tomás, the president and chief executive of U.S. Stem Cell, a Florida company for which Dr. Murphy had long served as chairman. He became chairman emeritus last year. (McFadden, 12/5)