Retail pharmacy leaders reflect on the first half of 2026

We’re halfway through 2026 and between PBM reforms, the continued rise of GLP-1s, and agentic AI adoption, retail pharmacies have kept busy.

The retail pharmacy landscape has evolved drastically in recent years. Think Rite Aid’s bankruptcy and subsequent going out of business, Walgreens’s sale to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, and CVS’s selling off of unprofitable assets.

The industry continues to face challenges in adapting to new competitors like Amazon Pharmacy and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, as well as the push to digitize pharmacy services.

We reached out to leaders across the retail pharmacy sector to see how they’re navigating these changes and how they plan to tackle the rest of 2026.

Turning it around. Siddharth Tenneti, SVP and interim president of pharmacy and consumer wellness at CVS, told Healthcare Brew the company has made progress in its multi-year turnaround strategy. The plan was implemented after CVS’s net income was slashed in half in 2024, largely due to higher-than-expected medical costs in its health insurance arm, Aetna.

“We’ve completed a multi-year effort to strategically realign our nationwide retail footprint, and today we have the right kinds of stores in the right locations,” Tenneti said, adding that CVS plans to open roughly 60 new pharmacies, as well as 20 small-format locations in 2026.

Moving forward, one of the company’s main priorities is supporting patients taking GLP-1s, Tenneti said.

CVS plans to prioritize stocking its pharmacies with products used to ease common side effects of the medications, such as nausea and vomiting, he said.

Status update. Kevin Host, SVP of Walmart health and wellness pharmacy, told us one of the company’s current priorities involves expanding pharmacists’ role in improving healthcare access.

“As one of the most accessible healthcare professionals in many communities, pharmacists are well positioned to provide services like testing and treatment,” Host said, adding that provider status is one factor that “will be critical” to achieving the goal.

Pharmacy associations in recent years have pushed for the government to recognize pharmacists as billable providers, which would allow them to bill for clinical services provided under Medicare Part B. Today, pharmacists can only bill for dispensing medications under Medicare Part D.

For the rest of the year, Host said he’s focused on scaling and improving Walmart Pharmacy’s prescription delivery services, as well as investing in technology and automation to improve pharmacists’ work experience and reduce repetitive tasks.

“Looking ahead, I expect speed, affordability, and access to pharmacist-led care to remain defining trends for retail pharmacy,” he said. “The companies that will lead are the ones that can make healthcare simpler for patients while supporting pharmacists as trusted frontline care providers.”

Modernizing medicine. Anthony DalPonte, president of pharmacy and health at Albertsons Companies, said their retail pharmacy business is also prioritizing automation.

“By modernizing operations and using automation in the right places, we’re able to reduce routine tasks and give pharmacists more time to do what matters most—focus on patient care and support their health,” DalPonte said.

Albertsons, a national grocery operator that also runs one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the US, has seen its pharmacy business grow steadily in recent years. Sales soared from $9.6 billion in 2024 to about $11.4 billion in 2025.

For the rest of the year, DalPonte said Albertsons is working on broadening pharmacists’ role in supporting patients’ overall healthcare.

“A big part of that is how we connect pharmacy with food and nutrition, helping customers manage their health in a more practical and meaningful way,” he said.