Content about Medco Health Solutions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In the wake of a key Senate subcommittee hearing this month, and on the heels of the collapse of the blockbuster AT&T and T-Mobile merger, four more U.S. lawmakers have joined the growing ranks of consumer groups, members of Congress and employers questioning the proposed mega-merger of pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions.
 

WASHINGTON — George Paz, Express Scripts chairman and CEO, and David Snow, Medco Health Solutions chairman and CEO, were in a pair of hot seats Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. Many of the questions posed by Senators on the subcommittee challenged the respective chief executives on how the proposed merger would negatively impact retail pharmacy and how the proposed merger would result in a dominant marketshare of the mail order pharmacy business.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — The merger between pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions "could bring an end to community-based pharmacies and the convenient services provided there," according to the Pennsylvania Pharmacy Council.

WASHINGTON — At a press conference organized by the Preserve Community Pharmacy Access NOW! coalition at the Capitol on Thursday morning, the National Community Pharmacists Association's CEO Douglas Hoey issued a statement regarding the proposed merger of pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, saying the deal could mean "more wasteful mail-order spending and higher price spikes for specialty drugs."

WASHINGTON — The Preserve Community Pharmacy Access NOW! coalition, which is a coalition of consumers, businesses and community-based pharmacists from across the country that have come together to oppose the planned mega-merger of Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, has issued a call to action to protect Americans from rising costs and decreased access to health care by stopping the planned merger of the PBMs.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A number of members of Congress have raised questions about the proposed merger between pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, prompting a lobbying group that represents independent pharmacies and opposes the merger to highlight the matter.

At press time, the industry was weighing the potential merger of pharmacy benefit manager rivals Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, but executives at CVS Caremark remain more confident than ever that its PBM business is ideally positioned to “effectively compete,” regardless of what federal trade regulators decide for ESI-Medco. And there’s good reason why.


PHILADELPHIA — Bills proposed in Pennsylvania's state legislature would allow patients to have their prescriptions filled through mail-order and at community pharmacies for the same price.

House Bill 511 and Senate Bill 211, which promoters said are designed to give a "booster shot" to local pharmacies and save jobs, are the latest episode in what appears to be a growing battle between pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies.

WASHINGTON — The Independent Specialty Pharmacy Coalition is urging the Federal Trade Commission to look into the pending merger between pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, the ISPC said Monday.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark posted second-quarter results that were at the high end of its guidance and narrowed its 2011 outlook on continued confidence. But it was the pharmacy benefit management business — and the potential merger of PBM rivals Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions — that was top of mind for many industry observers, and was a topic that CVS Caremark president and CEO Larry Merlo hit head-on at the start of Thursday morning’s conference call.

WASHINGTON — The ink has barely dried on the acquisition agreement between pharmacy benefit management giants Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, but several groups already are seeing smudges — most recently, a trade organization representing independent specialty pharmacy providers.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The merger agreement between Medco Health Solutions and Express Scripts announced Thursday has drawn objections from retail pharmacy trade groups.

In a joint statement on Thursday, National Community Pharmacists Association EVP and CEO Douglas Hoey and National Association of Chain Drug Stores president and CEO Steve Anderson said Express Scripts’ $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco would “exacerbate [pharmacy benefit managers’] detrimental effect on pharmacy patient care.”