Express Scripts Buys ValueRx

Some PBM executives are asking whether Express Scripts Inc. 's $445 million acquisition of ValueRx is the beginning of a long-anticipated consolidation of the PBM industry, a consolidation that has been more talk than action since the now-ancient drug company acquisitions of 1993-1994 [See Deal]. But the deal might best be seen as the end of something quite different for the PBM industry, an end to the experimentation and mergers that have taken place over the past couple of years.

Adding ValueRx increases Express Scripts' network prescription claims by 75% and more than doubles its mail service prescriptions. In the process, Express Scripts becomes the largest independent PBM (i.e., not...