The proposed merger of CVS Corp. and Caremark Rx Inc. is the first attempt to pair up a major retail pharmacy chain and a large pharmacy benefit manager, a potentially industry-shaping milestone large enough to ensure a long look by the Federal Trade Commission.
But ultimately, if the companies can convince the FTC they will have more leverage to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices and they will pass those cost-savings on to consumers, the deal stands a good chance of winning approval from the agency, according to antitrust lawyers in Washington.
The merger would pair CVS' chain of retail pharmacies with Caremark's expertise of managing pharmaceutical benefits of healthcare plans, usually using mail-order pharmacies. Caremark is one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment