Articles by Anna Edney and Robert Langreth

Senators Seek Probe of Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ Pricing Practice

Two U.S. senators have asked the inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department to investigate a practice by pharmacy-benefit managers known as spread pricing, as part of a wider inquiry by lawmakers into U.S. drug costs. Ron Wyden …

Trump Plan to Curb Drug Prices Targets Rebates to Pharmacy Benefit Managers

The Trump administration proposed ending a complex system of drug rebates that influence tens of billions of dollars in U.S. pharmaceutical spending, a move that could upend the relationship between drugmakers and pharmacy benefits middlemen. The proposal, a long-awaited part …

Investor Icahn to Oppose Cigna-Express Deal, Fearing Amazon Threat: Sources

Activist investor Carl Icahn has built a sizable stake in Cigna Corp. and plans to oppose the health insurer’s $54 billion takeover of pharmacy-benefits firm Express Scripts Holding Co., according to people familiar with the matter. Chief among Icahn’s concerns …

Amazon to Buy Online Pharmacy Startup PillPack as Entry Into Health Care

Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the online pharmacy startup PillPack, jumping into the health care business with a deal that will give the retail giant an immediate nationwide drug network. The move represents a formidable threat to pharmacy chains including …

How Insurer and Benefit Manager Mergers Squeeze Out Smaller Pharmacies

Over 20 years, Brian Komoto built a thriving pharmacy in California’s Central Valley. Each day, his nurses would travel the vast agricultural region’s roads to help hepatitis C patients take a grueling regimen of shots. Then, in 2016, 20 percent …

Express Scripts Fight Over Cyber Disclosure Reaches SEC

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review a dispute between Express Scripts Holding Co. and New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli over his effort to force the prescription-benefits manager to increase cyber-risk disclosures. Express Scripts told the SEC last …

Why Patent ‘Shenanigans’ Share Blame for High Cost of Drugs

Bob Kelsey can’t afford a cancer drug that could save his life. The retired firefighter, 53, needs Revlimid to stay healthy. Celgene Corp. has raised the price 88 percent over the past seven years. The drug doesn’t have substantial competition …

Some Question CVS-Aetna Remodeling of Health Care

Walking the aisles of a CVS drugstore, there are piled paper towels, stacked cereal boxes, and neat lines of nail polish. In the back, there’s the pharmacy. For years, that approach has remained essentially unchanged despite a creeping reality: Every …

CVS to Pay $67.5B for Aetna to Create Giant Health Firm with ‘10,000 New Front Doors’

CVS Health Corp. will buy Aetna Inc. for about $67.5 billion, creating a healthcare giant that will have a hand in everything from insurance to the corner drugstore. CVS will pay $207 a share for Aetna, with $145 a share …

Express Scripts Not Looking But Open to Deal with an Insurer, Amazon

Express Scripts Holding Co.’s chief executive said he’s open to a deal with a health insurer or partnering with Amazon.com Inc. CEO Tim Wentworth’s pharmacy benefits company has been battered by departing clients and the vague specter of Amazon’s entry …