Content about Merger

GREEN BAY, Wis. — General merchandise retailers Shopko and Pamida have completed their merger that will create a $3 billion company that serves largely rural communities in 22 states.

The combined entity will retain the Shopko name. Shopko will be headquartered in Green Bay and Pamida’s corporate headquarters in Omaha, Neb., will be consolidated into the Green Bay office over the next several months.

Multibillion-dollar pharmacy benefit management companies are advertising aggressively to try to convince Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to approve a merger between Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions (“PCMA launches advertising campaign,” Drug Store News, Jan. 17).

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The regulatory review of the Express Scripts-Medco merger now is in its final stages, and with the clock ticking down to that 30-day deadline, you can expect a full court-press from retail pharmacy interests looking to block the deal. The time for the three-point finesse shots from the corners of the court has passed, it's now time to charge the net and jam the message home; an Express Scripts-Medco merger is bad both for the retail pharmacy business and for consumers. However, it just might be good for CVS Caremark.

Will the merger of Express Scripts and Medco go through? Not if pharmacy lobbyists can stop it. There’s nothing new about the fact that different industry groups connected with retail pharmacy or health care can hold strongly opposing views about what’s good or profitable for their own members. But for undisguised hostility and tit-for-tat charges and countercharges, nothing comes close to the long-running feud between independent pharmacy and the pharmacy benefits management industry.

DUBLIN — Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Azur Pharma will become one company, the two drug makers said.

The two said the it now will be a specialty biopharmaceutical company called Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc and will be based in Dublin.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Mass merchandise retailers Shopko Stores and Pamida are merging, the two companies said Wednesday.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The longer this proposed Express Scripts-Medco deal remains under the microscope, the more people don't seem to like what they see. The general tone at this Senate hearing was against the merger. Many of the senators in attendance were expressing concern that the proposed merger would negatively impact access to pharmacy, which is perhaps the greatest import of the possibility of an Express Scripts-Medco super-PBM.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — With annual sales gaining on the $8 billion mark in the United States alone, according to IMS Health, Lipitor (atorvastatin) is the top-selling drug in the world, and the price markdown that Ranbaxy Labs’ launch (and subsequent generic launches) will bring, greatly will expand its accessibility. So it’s no surprise that it has attracted so much media attention over the past few weeks.

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."

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.

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores on Tuesday unveiled the print advertising component of its campaign to emphasize the anti-competitive and anti-consumer effects of the proposed merger of Express Scripts and Medco.

The new print ad was published in the Oct. 4 issue of the Washington Post (and can be seen by clicking here).

WASHINGTON — Only one stakeholder stands to gain from the proposed merger of Express Scripts and Medco — and that would be the new “mega PBM” the deal would create, not payers, and definitely not patients, either.