Hints and tips:
...Asda, the UK supermarket chain owned by TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers, is converting to its Asda Express brand 470 local stores that it acquired in 2022....
...CVS Health, the largest pharmacy chain in the US, in 2018 acquired Aetna for $69bn and Cigna combined with Express Scripts in a $67bn deal, including debt....
...A version of this article was first published by Nikkei Asia on January 24, 2023. ©2023 Nikkei Inc. All rights reserved....
...answer lies in part in the miserly health insurance policies now held by millions of Americans, but also in the way that access to drugs is managed by for-profit “middlemen” such as CVS Health’s Caremark, Express...
...Shares in insurer Cigna — which took a leaf from CVS’s playbook by last year acquiring pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts for $67bn including debt — were down 1.5 per cent on Wednesday....
...French drugmaker Sanofi and Regeneron had already cut the net price for a significant proportion of patients covered by Express Scripts, the largest standalone pharmacy benefit manager in the US....
...Cigna, a health insurer, announced the takeover of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, in March....
...Ms Smith joined the company in 2015, having previously been CFO at pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts....
...merged a health insurer with a pharmacy benefit manager....
...Insurer Cigna — which has struck a $67bn deal to buy Express Scripts, a large pharmacy benefits manager — was up about 0.88 per cent, while Express Scripts rose 2.35 per cent....
...As a result, the big companies that dominate it — distributors, pharmacy benefit managers, and retail pharmacies — face limited competition and have opportunities to extract economic rent....
...Express Scripts, a large pharmacy benefits manager, says “super spenders” who spend $50,000 or more on medicines every year account for roughly 20 per cent of overall drug costs....
...Other pharmacy stocks were hurt as well, with CVS Health down 6.1 per cent and Express Scripts down 1.4 per cent. Since joining the Dow, Walgreens shares have fallen 11.2 per cent....
...Carl Icahn, an activist investor in Cigna, has voiced his opposition to the healthcare insurer’s $60bn acquisition of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits manager, in an attempt to derail the tie-up ahead...
...Express Scripts was the last large independent pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM, which acts a middleman in negotiations between drugmakers and the payers — the employers, insurers, and government, which...
...benefit management organisation Express Scripts was up 1.5 per cent • Healthcare services provider Cardinal Health rose 5.3 per cent • Health insurer Aetna — which is set to be acquired by CVS in a $69bn...
...Sanofi said it would lower the net price of Praluent for a significant proportion of patients covered by Express Scripts, the largest standalone pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) in the US....
...Mr Azar favours a plan that would squeeze companies known as pharmacy benefit managers....
...If enacted, such a policy threatens to plunge the industry into a protracted period of uncertainty and to scramble the business models of pharmacy benefits managers such as Express Scripts, CVS’s Caremark...
...pharmacy benefits manager, by Cigna, another health insurer....
...The three largest PBMs — CVS’s Caremark, Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s Optum — together manage roughly 250m lives, according to Credit Suisse....
...Three PBMs, Express Scripts, Caremark and Optum Rx, control three-quarters of that market, according to Barclays’ research. The first is an independent company valued at $44bn....
...Anthem said it will begin offering a “full suite” of pharmacy benefits manager solutions from 2020 when its current contract with Express Scripts expires....
...Shares of pharmacy chains took a hit on Friday after a report that Amazon is nearing a decision on whether to make a big move into the online market for prescription drugs....
...Investors sold off shares in PBMs, drugstore chains and pharmaceuticals wholesalers on the speculation of a possible deal and the Amazon move, with Express Scripts, Walgreens, RiteAid and McKesson shedding...
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