Traer's NuCara Pharmacy pictured on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The company's Traer location has been in operation for more than 50 years and is slated to abruptly close next Tuesday, along with NuCara's Ackley, Conrad, and Zearing locations. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – Traer’s only pharmacy is set to abruptly shutter Tuesday, March 31, following an announcement that four NuCara Pharmacy locations in Iowa are closing and the company is reportedly being acquired by Medicap. Alongside Traer, NuCara pharmacies in Conrad, Ackley, and Zearing are also slated for closure.

“WE ARE CLOSING,” a sign taped to the door of Traer’s NuCara Pharmacy on Thursday, March 26, read. “This location will be closing Tuesday, March 31. To ensure your care continues without interruption, your prescriptions will be securely transferred to Medicap Pharmacy currently known as NuCara Pharmacy located at 421 E. Merle Hibbs Blvd, Marshalltown … No action is required on your part. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the phone number listed above [641-752-4115].”

Traer’s NuCara Pharmacy is located at 500 Second Street on the corner of Walnut. The building has long been owned by Judy Holst and her now-late husband Kent Holst. The newspaper reached out to Judy’s daughter, Traer Mayor Pro Tem Carri Holst, for comment on Wednesday regarding the closure which comes on the heels of Traer’s medical clinic, formerly MercyOne Traer Family Medicine, shuttering this past December.

“Local pharmacy level staff and community leaders were not aware of any potential changes to NuCara’s position in Traer (and other local communities) until the announcement late Tuesday afternoon, March 24,” Carri told the newspaper in an email. “Small town pharmacies are highly valued, but hard to sustain in today’s market. As soon as news of the closing was received, community leaders from North Tama Medical Associates, Traer Development Corporation, and the City of Traer got to work immediately to research other pharmacy options. We believe having a local pharmacy is a very important service for our community and Tama County residents, and will work diligently to secure pharmacy services.”

North Tama Medical Associates owns the medical clinic located diagonal to NuCara at 200 Walnut Street. The non-profit’s board of directors successfully recruited Waterloo-based Peoples Community Health Clinic to reopen in the space with a grand opening planned for mid-April. Peoples Clinic currently operates an onsite pharmacy in Waterloo, while also offering pharmaceutical services through a pharmacy technician at its Clarksville satellite clinic, according to Peoples Clinic marketing specialist Libby Mann who also told the newspaper, “Our team has been examining different solutions in response to the NuCara Pharmacy closure, although no solution has been decided thus far.”

The west entrance to Traer's NuCara Pharmacy pictured this past Thursday evening. A sign indicates all stock is 50% off, while another sign states customer prescriptions will be "securely transferred to Medicap Pharmacy currently known as NuCara Pharmacy" in Marshalltown. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

NuCara’s response

The newspaper sent emails to addresses associated with three individuals in leadership at NuCara this past Thursday, including NuCara pharmacist-owner Thomas “T.J.” Johnsrud who founded the company. Johnsrud’s first location in Conrad opened in 1973 and became one of the original three NuCara pharmacies alongside Traer and Story City, according to a post made by the company on social media in 2023 in celebration of the Traer location’s 50th anniversary.

On Friday, Melanie Kirkpatrick, marketing director for NuCara Management Group, sent the newspaper a statement regarding the closure of the Ackley, Conrad, Traer, and Zearing locations, along with the disclaimer that the company would “not be issuing any other comments at this time.”

“At NuCara, our priority has always been serving our communities,” the statement began. “Unfortunately, we are seeing more prescriptions reimbursed below our cost to dispense, driven by current PBM [pharmacy benefit manager] models that set reimbursement rates. This has led to many pharmacy closures throughout the country. Additionally, gaps in Iowa’s rural healthcare strategy have created an unsustainable environment for some rural pharmacies, leading to the difficult decision to close these locations. We continue to endeavor to keep the majority of our pharmacies operating in the local communities while evaluating strategic alternatives.”

Late Thursday afternoon, Traer’s longtime pharmacists Phyllis and Rex McKee posted a statement to social media regarding the closure similar to the note tacked to the Traer location’s door.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“NuCara pharmacies have been purchased by another company and will CLOSE locations at Traer, Ackley, Conrad, and Zearing,” the McKees wrote before later stating, “I am posting this to give people time, as I don’t know when the new company will announce the closing. This is, of course, very sad. Rex, I, and the Pharmacy Staff want to thank our customers for their business and friendship.”

On the door of the Traer pharmacy, the note to customers about the closing somberly ends with, “Thank you for trusting NuCara Pharmacy. It has been our privilege to serve you.”

$22M lawsuit

Including the four NuCara pharmacies in Iowa slated for closure, the company owns and manages more than 30 “full-service community based pharmacies” in Iowa, Texas, North Dakota, and Minnesota, per the company’s website. Other Iowa locations include Ames, Coralville, Greenfield, Grundy Center, Lenox, Marshalltown, Montezuma, Nevada, Pleasant Hill, Story City, Waterloo, and West Union.

According to recent reporting by Clark Kauffman with Iowa Capital Dispatch, NuDak Ventures, the limited liability corporation (LLC) that does business as NuCara Specialty Pharmacy, is being sued by the State of Iowa for allegedly spending $22 million owed to the state for an HIV treatment program.

“In its lawsuit, the State of Iowa alleges the company has repeatedly failed to make millions in monthly payments due to the state under a contract with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services,” Kauffman reported on March 16. “The lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, states that until recently NuCara was a state-contracted pharmacy, providing pharmacy services related to sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis control, immunization, and substance abuse treatment since 1998.”

As part of NuCara’s contract with the State of Iowa, it was required to order “outpatient medications purchased by DHHS at discounted prices. Under the terms of that deal, NuCara was responsible for paying DHHS the program ‘profit’ that was generated each month. … On March 6, 2026, the state terminated its contract with NuCara, alleging that between October 2024 and January 2026 the company had repeatedly failed to make all of the required monthly payments.”

Kauffman further reported that NuCara is allegedly eight months in arrears and owes in total more than $22 million to the state.

“NuCara is also alleged to have improperly spent the state’s program income to pay off other creditors in violation of the contract and state and federal laws, and the state claims the company ‘no longer has, and is unable to return,’ the state’s lost revenue,” Kauffman wrote.

Kauffman also reported that NuCara was pursuing a corporate acquisition by OneroRX. According to OneroRX’s website, the West Des Moines-based company was founded by John Pappajohn and began operating pharmacies in May 2021. A ticker running along the bottom of OneroRX’s landing page indicates Medicap Pharmacy is one of its acquisitions.

Per Kauffman, “The state alleges that OneroRX does not intend to accept NuCara’s liabilities as part of any proposed corporate acquisition. ‘Even if NuCara is acquired by OneroRX, the proceeds from the sale and collection on any pending invoices will not be sufficient to repay the program income’ the state is due, the lawsuit claims.”

Telegraph Note: This story is being published online ahead of the newspaper’s Friday, April 3 print edition.