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Retailers see little late holiday buying
The nation's retailers remained on edge Sunday as the much-hoped for sales bonanza appeared not to materialize on the last weekend before Christmas, despite an abundance of deals on toys and apparel. Merchants, who had a slow start to the holiday season that never picked up steam, needed a big sales surge this past weekend to recoup lost business. Now, they'll have to rely even more heavily on the final days before and after Christmas to meet their holiday sales forecast...
Yahoo/AP

Wal-Mart December sales still seen up 1-3 percent
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Saturday it still expects a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in December sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year as sales of general merchandise and winter items improved in the latest week. On a recording detailing sales through Friday, the world's biggest retailer said it continued to see strength in food sales, while general merchandise sales improved as the week progressed...
Yahoo/Reuters

Additional News:

• Family Dollar sees higher Q1 sales, lower profit Progressive Grocer
• 99¢ Only Stores Appoints New CFO Retail Merchandiser

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Pfizer CEO defends Celebrex, won't recall it
Pfizer Chief Executive Hank McKinnell said on Sunday doctors should be made aware of the health risks in prescribing Celebrex to their patients, but the company does not plan to recall its popular arthritis drug. "We're leaving Celebrex on the market because it is an appropriate option for many, many patients," McKinnell said on ABC's "This Week."
Reuters

Lilly adds warning to Strattera label
Eli Lilly and Co. said Friday it added a warning to the label of its attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder medicine, advising patients with jaundice or a liver injury to stop taking the treatment. Lilly said the label change on the drug, known as Strattera, discusses two reported cases of severe liver injury out of the more than 2 million patients who have taken the medication since approval...
Reuters

Additional News:

• Pfizer suspends Celebrex ads Reuters
• With new sleeping pill, new acceptability? New York Times (Sub Req'd)
• AstraZeneca reports poor test results Yahoo/AP
• Big Pharma could face more bad news in wake of Celebrex Wall Street Journal (Sub Req'd)

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Help ward off cancer with a Japanese diet
Cruciferous vegetables may help safeguard against disease. There are many differences between Japanese and American diets that may explain why cancer incidence in Japan is far lower than in the United States. But one difference may be overlooked: The Japanese consume about five times the amount of cruciferous vegetables as Americans do...
MSNBC

Poll: Majority of older Americans support medical marijuana
Nearly three-fourths of older Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use, according to a poll done for the nation's largest advocacy group for seniors. More than half of those questioned said they believe marijuana has medical benefits, while a larger majority agreed the drug is addictive. AARP says it has no political position on medical marijuana and that its local branches have not chosen sides in the scores of state ballot initiatives on the issue in recent elections...
USA Today

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A gray streak for hair-care goods
A BusinessWeek investigation finds pricey products meant for salon-only use and sale are in drugstores everywhere. What's going on? A Rite Aid store in downtown Seattle has a wide selection of hair-care products from Nexxus, Redken, Sebastian, Paul Mitchell, and American Crew. In Lake Forest, Ill., a CVS store carries a similar variety. That's what you would expect to find at the local drugstore, right? Trouble is, these products aren't supposed to be available in retail outlets...
BusinessWeek

CoverGirl to go 'Daisy Crazy' this spring
CoverGirl is gearing up for spring with its Daisy Crazy Color Collection, which features floral hues of Continuous Color Nails, Continuous Color Lipstick, Eye Enhancers 4-Kit Shadows and Wetslicks Lip Gloss. The products, which range from $2.99 to $4.99 each, will be available for about eight weeks beginning in March. In addition, CoverGirl is adding to its Wetslicks family the Precision Lip Gloss Pencil in six shades of pinks, plums, mauves and corals. The retail price will be $5.20...
Drug Store News (Sub Req'd)

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Kellogg: A little payoff in the box?
With breakfast cereal, is there more value inside the box or on the outside? Don't laugh. At my local market, 18 ounces of Shur Fine corn flakes cost $1.69. The same size box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes costs $3.69, 118% more, although the Kellogg's package does feature pictures of Aladdin and the Genie. Such new frontiers in marketing -- a key element in outgoing Chief Executive Carlos Gutierrez' strategy -- have helped boost revenue 5.3% this year, not counting currency moves...
BusinessWeek

Bravo! Foods to launch Starburst smoothies
Bravo! Foods International has announced that it is launching Slammers Starburst Fruit & Cream Ultimate Smoothies after agreeing a licensing deal with Masterfoods. In September, Bravo! Foods announced it had signed a licensing agreement with Masterfoods USA, a division of confectionery firm Mars, Inc, to produce and market Starburst single-serve, and other fortified milk products under the company's Slammers brand...
Just Food

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Sharp to invest $1.9 billion in LCD plant
Japan's Sharp Corp. plans to spend up to 200 billion yen ($1.91 billion) to build a cutting-edge domestic plant to make liquid crystal display panels for flat-screen TVs, a business newspaper reported on Sunday. Sharp has said it planned to have a second LCD plant up and running at its Kameyama production site in western Japan in the middle of 2006 to meet growing demand and keep pace with big-spending rivals, but it has not disclosed further details...
Reuters

Bratz album set for release in ‘05
Universal Music Enterprises and MGA Entertainment, maker of Bratz fashion dolls, have teamed to create a music CD. Some of the music industry’s top producers and songwriters are said to be working on the album, set to debut sometime in 2005. The companies however, declined to release additional details, keeping the project under wraps until next year’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and the New York Toy Fair, both in February...
Drug Store News (Sub Req'd)

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Fewer calories may slow Alzheimer's?
Restricting the diets of mice reduces the build-up of plaques in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study that offers further evidence of the benefits of calorie restriction. "This is the first indication that modest changes in the normal diet can slow some aspects of Alzheimer's disease," said Caleb Finch, co-author of the study published in the online version of Neurobiology of Aging...
NutraIngredients

WHO: cervical cancer largely preventable
Almost a quarter million women worldwide die from cervical cancer each year although the disease is largely preventable, the U.N. health agency said Thursday. Cancer of the cervix, at the base of the uterus, kills more women annually than childbirth, but the number of cervical cancer cases could be significantly reduced through effective screening and treatment, the World Health Organization said...
USA Today

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