"By any measure, the Eckerd acquisition was a success," said Thomas Ryan, chairman, president and chief executive officer of CVS Corp. and president and CEO of CVS Pharmacy Inc. Ryan, speaking at the firm's annual analyst meeting Thursday, said last year's acquisition of the Eckerd's drug store chain helped CVS become a market leader in the high growth southeast and southwest regions while significantly diversifying its client base.

The pharmacy giant said company stores opened for at least a year showed sales increases of 5.8% in the four weeks ending May 28 while same store sales so far this year rose 7.2%. Overall year-to-date sales at all CVS stores showed a 33.4% increase.

The flourishing pharmacy industry, facing an aging baby boomer population, the increasing use of more profitable generic medications and a tidal wave of blockbuster designer drugs, is expected to more than triple in the next decade with growth rising from $236 billion in 2004 to a projected $720 billion by 2015, Ryan said.