CVS warns that it stands to lose 40 million prescriptions next year as deals signed by rival Walgreens with other participants in the drug supply chain shut out CVS pharmacies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Chief Executive Larry Merlo says two recent partnerships that Walgreens Boots Alliance—the holding company for Walgreens and other pharmaceutical manufacturing, wholesale and distribution companies— struck with health plans excluded CVS drugstores from their networks and are the main reason for CVS’ expected decline in prescriptions.
CVS filled 1.03 billion prescriptions in 2015, the last full year available, up from 722 million five years earlier.
But Walgreens, which filled 929 million prescriptions in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, has been aggressively pursuing deals that make its pharmacies part of preferred networks where patients can fill their prescriptions at a discount.
Walgreens has become the preferred pharmacy for UnitedHealthcare’s OptumRx and for Prime Therapeutics, which manages drug benefits for 14 Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans.
Last month, Walgreens signed a deal to become the preferred network for Tricare, the Defense Department’s health care network, supplanting CVS Health. It has also struck a deal to acquire Rite Aid, though the transaction awaits regulatory approval.
