(Reuters) – Shares of firms proudly owning pharmacy profit managers fell on Wednesday after the introduction of a bipartisan invoice that may power well being insurers or drug middlemen to divest their pharmacy companies.
CVS Well being’s Caremark, Cigna’s Categorical Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s Optum management nearly all of pharmacy profit administration (PBMs) within the US, whereas their mother or father firms additionally function medical insurance companies.
Shares of all three firms had been down between 4.8% to five.5% after the Wall Road Journal first reported information of the invoice.
The invoice, sponsored by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and Josh Hawley, a Republican, will power firms proudly owning well being insurers or pharmacy profit managers to divest their companies working pharmacies inside three years.
Representatives Diana Harshbarger, a Republican, and Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat, are additionally supporting the invoice, which can be launched within the Congress.
PBMs negotiate prescription drug costs between insurers, pharmacies and drugmakers, and instantly reimburse pharmacies for prescribed drugs included beneath their agreed phrases.
They’ve beforehand come beneath scrutiny for his or her affect over prescription drug costs.
“PBMs have manipulated the market to complement themselves — mountain climbing up drug prices, dishonest employers, and driving small pharmacies out of enterprise. My new bipartisan invoice will untangle these conflicts of curiosity by reining in these middlemen,” mentioned Senator Warren.
Shares of different insurers akin to Elevance, Humana and Centene fell between 1% and three%.
“The newest introduction of potential laws to limit PBM operations and broader healthcare vertical integration is unlikely to achieve traction, though it’s onerous to dismiss outright,” mentioned Leerink Companions analyst Michael Cherny.
Shares of insurers have come beneath strain after Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth’s medical insurance unit, was fatally shot exterior a Manhattan resort final week.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Devika Syamnath and Vijay Kishore)
