This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I attend Asembia’s 2018 Specialty Pharmacy Summit. Click here to see the original post and comments from March 2018.
Wow. Yesterday, Cigna announced that it would acquire Express Scripts. See the links below.
Though Cigna was an unexpected acquirer, the deal confirms the importance of pharmacy and medical benefit integration. It also reinforces the role that pharmacy benefit management (PBM) plays in the drug channel. PBMs are now linked closely to the expensive specialty drugs that treat smaller patient populations, not to the primary care blockbusters of yesteryear.
The strategic logic, however, is much more compelling for Express Scripts than it is for Cigna. Perhaps that’s why the stocks reacted so differently yesterday. Express Scripts’ stock closed up 9%, while Cigna’s stock closed down 12%. Better to sell a PBM than buy one?
Below, I provide data about the PBM market, highlight vertical integration between PBMs and insurers, and discuss other industry implications.
Please feel free to leave your own $0.02 below. If you’re shy, you can comment anonymously.
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