Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Express Scripts Fails To Entice Top Customer Anthem To Extend Agreement Past 2019
The Wall Street Journal: Express Scripts Says It Will Lose Anthem, Its Biggest Customer, In 2020
Express Scripts Holding Co. said Monday it doesn’t expect Anthem Inc., its biggest customer, to extend a pharmacy-benefits management agreement slated to expire at the end of 2019. The nation’s largest pharmacy-benefits manager said it pledged $1 billion a year in price concessions through 2019 if Anthem would extend the current deal beyond the current expiration date. But Express Scripts officials said recent conversations with Anthem indicate the health insurer wants to move in a different direction. Anthem has issued a request for proposals seeking a new pharmacy-benefits manager once the current agreement expires, Express Scripts said. (Tweh, 4/24)
Bloomberg: Express Scripts To Lose Top Client Anthem Amid Legal Dispute
The Anthem contract represented 18 percent of Express Scripts’s consolidated revenues in the first quarter, according to a filing, yet the companies became embroiled in dueling lawsuits after Anthem claimed that Express Scripts overcharged it by billions of dollars. The drug benefit manager’s shares plunged in late trading, falling 15 percent to $57.25 at 6:30 p.m. in New York. (Langreth, 4/24)
Modern Healthcare: PBM Express Scripts Loses Biggest Client Anthem
In March 2016, Anthem sued Express Scripts for $15 billion in damages and the ability to end its contract, saying Express Scripts overcharged the insurer by $3 billion annually. Express Scripts later fired back with a lawsuit of its own denying Anthem's allegations. (Livingston, 4/24)
