express scripts

Something may be giving in the eternal fight between managed care and the pharma business over brand-name drug costs. Prescription drug prices rose at the slowest pace in a decade during 2006, climbing 8.2 percent, compared with 9 percent in 2005, according to prescription management firm Express Scripts. Experts don't expect the smaller increases to continue, however, as they anticipate that fewer costly high-volume brand name drugs will go generic in coming years.

Meanwhile, drug …

New research funded by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts has concluded that consumers give up medications rather than switch from brand-name drugs to generics. The study, which looked at healthcare claims for two national employers, compared prescription claims for the first nine months of 2005 versus the first nine months of 2006. The employers had kicked off CDHPs for their employees in January 2006, with one of the two employers seeing more than 20 percent of employees enroll. …

> After several months of wrangling over a counter-offer from Express Scripts, CVS shareholders have agreed to merge with Caremark Rx. Article

> A new report by the California HealthCare Foundation suggests that racial, cultural and ethnic factors often dictate what kind of end-of-life care California patients receive. …

Two suspended executives of CVS were indicted Thursday on federal charges of fraud and bribery of a former Rhode Island state legislator, raising questions about whether the pharmacy chain will be able to complete its planned--and contested--acquisition of pharmacy-benefits manager Caremark Rx. CVS Senior Vice President John R. Kramer and Carlos Ortiz, the company's government affairs chief, face a 23-count federal indictment for allegedly paying bribes disguised as consulting fees to …

In the newest attack in the increasingly ugly battle for control of Caremark Rx, rival PBM Express Scripts--currently the spurned suitor--called a dividend offer from drugstore chain CVS a "desperate attempt to save a flawed transaction.". Following yesterday's offer by Express Scripts to take over Caremark, valued at $24.8 billion to $25 billion, depending on whose numbers you believe, CVS sweetened its bid by offering a special cash dividend of $2 per share to Caremark shareholders, …

Express Scripts is moving ahead with its $25 billion plan to take over rival PBM  Caremark Rx, announcing Tuesday that it has begun offering cash and shares to Caremark shareholders, despite being rebuffed by the Caremark board last week. That move follows a lawsuit by a large institutional investor that charges Caremark insiders with putting personal enrichment ahead of shareholder value. In a suit filed last month but not reported until Friday, the Louisiana Municipal Police …

> Eli Lilly has fired back a The New York Times piece which accuses the drugmaker of marketing antipsychotic drug Zyprexa illegally. Response

> Express Scripts has bid $26 billion on a bid to buy Caremark, potentially squeezing out CVS/pharmacy, whose bid came in lower. Caremark, however, said that it plans to go ahead with its previously announced CVS merger. …

> According to David Brailler, there are "legislative challenges ahead." The outgoing National HITcoordinator addressed wildly-cheering crowds on Health IT Day. OK. Maybe they weren't that big. Article

> Spending on specialty drugs is up 17.5 percent and will likely more than double by 2009, according to Express Scripts. …

> Despite being flooded with media coverage about the threat of an avian flu pandemic, the average American is not planning for an outbreak of the disease, a new poll finds. Article (WSJ sub. req.)

> Cerner and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have announced a joint partnership to develop and commercialize new healthcare IT products. …

Today's earnings announcements from health plans and insurers don't look too bad. WellPoint reported a 20 percent surge in profits yesterday, a gain that the company attributes to an increase in membership and decreased medical costs. Aetna also posted good earnings, with first quarter profits up 3.2 percent, but reported a first quarter medical cost ratio of 79.4 percent in its main commercial business. That was up from 77.9 percent a year earlier. Meanwhile, PBM Express Scripts had …