7/21/2011 11:28 AM 

Emphasize near-monopoly’s threat to patient care, pharmacy access

National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Executive Vice President and CEO B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, and National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, issued the following joint statement today regarding the proposed merger of Express Scripts, Inc. and Medco Health Solutions, Inc.:

“Today’s announcement that Express Scripts will buy Medco creates a middle man that is too big to play fair, and will have immense power to unfairly dominate the market. This combination will monopolize control of the supply line for brand and generic prescription drugs, threaten access to pharmacy patient care, and is a bad deal for America, for healthcare plans, for pharmacies, and – most notably – for patients.

“For the ultimate good of patients, NCPA and NACDS are committed to advancing the unsurpassed value of community pharmacy as the face of neighborhood healthcare. Community pharmacy services help to improve patient health and lower overall healthcare costs. Unfortunately, practical and rhetorical actions by the PBM community have increasingly ignored, and treated with irrational hostility, the vital importance of the patient-pharmacist relationship. This proposed merger will exacerbate PBMs’ detrimental effect on pharmacy patient care.

“NCPA and NACDS are consulting with the Federal Trade Commission, the state Attorneys General, and other enforcement officials to determine appropriate next steps.”