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According to the Wall Street Journal, two massive mergers in the health sector will soon receive the go-ahead from the Justice Department.
The newspaper reported Wednesday that the Justice Department was preparing to approve the $ 69 billion merger of the CVS Health pharmacy with insurer Aetna, announced late last year, as well as the $ 67 billion deal from insurer Cigna. in March.
Express Scripts was up 4% on the report, while Cigna, Aetna and CVS posted at least 1%
Mergers would redraw the lines around what defines healthcare companies. A combination of CVS and Aetna would create a new company bringing together many health care companies, including a health insurer, a retail pharmacy and a pharmacy benefits manager, who negotiate prescription drug prices with manufacturers of drugs. Meanwhile, Cigna's contract with Express Scripts would end the stand-alone PBM period by combining it with an insurance business.
The agreements were examined more closely by the DOJ, which requested more information from both groups of companies.
The Journal indicated that CVS and Aetna may be required to sell certain Medicare drug coverage activities for the merger to close, while a Cigna-Express Scripts transaction would be unlikely with similar requirements.
In August, shareholders of Cigna and Express Scripts voted in favor of the deal, which was briefly threatened after billionaire Carl Icahn spoke out against the project, saying he "could" rival the worst acquisitions of its history ". He finally reversed the course.
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