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OptumRx signs deal with
Walgreens to grow in-store prescriptions
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[March 18, 2016]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - OptumRx, the
pharmacy benefit manager of UnitedHealth Group Inc, said on Thursday it
signed an agreement with Walgreens Boots Alliance that is the first step
in a strategic relationship with the pharmacy chain.
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 Financial terms were not disclosed.
Walgreens, which has 8,200 pharmacies, will fill 90-day
prescriptions for OptumRx customers at its mail delivery prices,
starting Jan. 1, 2017, OptumRx said. Mail delivery prices are
typically lower than what pharmacies charge in stores, sometimes by
as much as one-third.
The model puts OptumRx on more equal footing with its two largest
competitors, CVS Health - which is made up of pharmacies and a
pharmacy benefit manager - and Express Scripts Holding Corp, which
has a similar pharmacy program, one Wall Street analyst said.
"We see this deal as adding meaningfully to the value proposition of
OptumRx, which now manages over 1 billion prescriptions," Leerink
analyst Ana Gupte said in a research note.
OptumRx Chief Executive Mark Thierer said in an interview that he
expects the relationship to extend into using OptumRx data as well
as the bigger Optum division's care delivery assets, urgent care and
behavioral health services.
The potential shows that a pharmacy benefit manager does not need to
own pharmacies to grow, Thierer said. "You don't have to have an
owned model."
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UnitedHealth shares were off 1.5 percent at $123.02 and Walgreen
rose 1 percent to $82.94 in midday New York trading.
(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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