1. In Vivo
  2. >>Archive

Alliances with PBMs: Experiment in Progress

Drug firms and PBMs each bring valuable assets to the disease management party—and different, perhaps conflicting goals. But can they live without each other?

It is probably now fair to say that pharmacy benefit management has disappointed many of the drug company executives who were looking to it as a way of securing market share and growth in a tightening marketplace. A number of Merck & Co. Inc. managers have always believed the company overpaid in its $6 billion acquisition of Medco Containment Services Inc. and have seen nothing to make them question their original judgment. Sighs a top executive at a PBM buyer: "Disease management has gone from the great hope of the drug business, the thing that would save margins, to a sustainable way of generating revenues in areas where drug companies have products and therapeutic interests." Since Eli Lilly & Co. Inc.'s $4 billion acquisition of PCS in July 1994, no drug company has ventured into the PBM business through an acquisition.

But new companies have ventured into the world of PBMs through alliances with drug-company owned PBMs as part of separate...

Read the full article – start your free trial today!

Join thousands of industry professionals who rely on In Vivo for daily insights

  • Start your 7-day free trial
  • Explore trusted news, analysis, and insights
  • Access comprehensive global coverage
  • Enjoy instant access – no credit card required
Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber?

More from Archive

Final Chance To Have Your Say: Take Our Reader Survey This Week

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: This is your final call to participate in the survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. The deadline is 20 September.

Early Development Deals: Ipsen's Strategy For Biomarker-Driven Success

 
• By Eliza Slawther

Mary Jane Hinrichs, Ipsen’s head of early development, talks to In Vivo about getting ahead of the competition by securing deals for candidates before they enter Phase I trials.   

Shape Our Content: Take The Reader Survey

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: We are conducting a survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. If there are any changes you’d like to see in the coverage topics, content format or the method in which you receive and access In Vivo, or if you love it how it is, now is the time to have your voice heard.

In Partnership with Cerba Research

Prioritizing Safety in CAR-T Therapy: Patient Monitoring with Cerba Research’s Testing Portfolio

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) clinical trial landscape in general and CAR-T cell clinical trials in particular are a special focus for the FDA, EMA, and other regulatory agencies. The whole industry is thus aware of the recent FDA safety investigation and requirements for labeling CAR therapy products.

More from In Vivo

EU Medtech Outlook: The View From MedTech Europe Experts

 
• By Ashley Yeo

MedTech Forum 2025 was less MDR-focused than in previous years, as macro issues and exogenous threats were forced further into the center of medtech business thinking.

‘Confident In Lorundrostat’s Promise’: Mineralys CEO Talks Trials And Next Steps

 
• By Sushmita Panda

In a conversation with In Vivo, CEO Jon Congleton discusses Mineralys’s data-rich journey toward an NDA filing, the significance of recent trial wins and how its candidate may offer a dual benefit in blood pressure and renal protection.

BioBytes: Qubit Pharmaceuticals Unveils Quantum AI Model For Drug Discovery

 
• By David Wild

Qubit Pharmaceuticals and Sorbonne University launched a quantum AI model that could slash drug synthesis requirements and enable exploration of previously undruggable targets.