Express Scripts (ESRX) buys NextRx from Wellpoint

Express Scripts is buying NextRx from Wellpoint (press release).  Key points:

• $4.675 B
• 10 year deal w/ Wellpoint
• 25M lives
• 265M adjusted Rxs managed annually

This makes them bigger than CVS Caremark and almost as big as Medco in terms of Rx volume.  The challenge will be whether these lives stay with Express Scripts when they come up for renewal or not.  Just having a deal with Wellpoint doesn’t require them to stay.  (I hope they have an earn out tied to retained lives.)

BTW – This is almost at the top of the $1-$5B range which will bring anyone else contemplating selling their PBM to the table.

Here is the mention with script counts from the WSJ Blog.