As per latest information, it has been revealed that the decision made recently by Walgreen Co., as per which it decided to steer clear of the pharmacy network of a flourishing and one of its largest customers, along with a gentle cold-and-flu period, has perhaps resulted in dragging down its sales for the month of January by around 2.3%, which now reads $5.8 billion.

The Deerfield-based chain of drugstores on Friday asserted that it had filled up around 8.6% lesser prescriptions in the month of January at its drugstores open at least a year and shared some imperative words of caution over the possibilities of constant softness right across the year in prospect.

While expressing his opinion regarding the weak performance during the said part of business, an analyst at Chicago-based Morningstar, Matthew Coffina, said that, "It looks like, at most, they're retaining about 15 percent of (Express Scripts) sales, and that's just in the first month. Walgreens has gotten them in a difficult situation here, and it's hard to see how they're going to dig themselves out of this hole".

The issue was in rumours from quite some time, as it was evident that the decision of the drugstores will perhaps bother their sales in near future. However, the release made on Friday, wherein the company revealed its sales report for the month of January, offered the initial barometer for the company.

Earlier on January 1, Walgreen divorced from Express Scripts Inc., a leading pharmacy benefits manager which specializes in administering prescription drug benefits for employers, insurers and various other groups. Express Scripts, as per official stats, accounted for in excess of 88 million out of the 819mn prescriptions that were filled by the company during the course of its fiscal 2011, which ended on August 31.