‘How did we get here?’ DOJ defends CVS-Aetna OK
A federal judge had requested the DOJ document as part of his ongoing antitrust review of the
The merger resulted in one silver lining for
But in public comments that drew the DOJ response this week, pharmacy owners from coast to coast laid out their case that by taking over a major insurance underwriter, CVS is in position to control pricing with the possibility of patients having to pay more for the drugs they need.
The deal appealed to CVS in part for the prospect of pairing its Caremark pharmacy benefit management subsidiary with
In response to an ongoing review by U.S. District Judge
"The evidence showed that CVS is unlikely to be able to profitably raise its PBM or retail pharmacy costs post-merger," wrote DOJ antitrust attorney
Too big to fail?
Three pharmacy trade groups and 120 individual stores filed opposing comments with DOJ, however, arguing the deal imperiled their businesses with a possible longer-term impact on competitive pricing for medications.
CVS operates more than 175 pharmacies in
The
In her own formal comments to DOJ in mid-December, an NCPA member likened to a "master-slave relationship" the relationnship between independent pharmacies and PBM entities.
"How did we get here?" stated
CVS CEO
Merlo is scheduled to address investors next week on the company's 2018 results and ongoing integration of
"We're seeing physicians switch more than 40 percent of the time to a lower-cost alternative, with an average savings per 'script' of about
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