UnitedHealth Group Inc. has announced that it has reached a deal to purchase Catamaran Corp. for roughly $12.8 billion. According to a statement released by the companies, UnitedHealth will pay $61.50 a share for the deal, 27 percent higher than Catamaran’s closing share price on Friday.
UnitedHealth is financing the acquisition through a combination of cash and debt. The acquisition will be UnitedHealth’s largest purchase ever, according Newshub.org, today.
Catamaran is a benefits manager, helping to administer the drug coverage in health plans. The employees at Catamaran work with employers and insurers to negotiate prices with pharmacies and drug companies. They also work to manage drugs for patients in a multitude of ways, including handling complex treatments and maintaining lists of covered drugs.
The purchase of Catamaran will help UnitedHealth boost its drug-benefits business. The drug-benefits industry records about $100 billion in annual sales.
UnitedHealth is planning to merge Catamaran with its existing drug-benefit unit, called OptumRX. Optum covers about 30 million people, while Catamaran represents about 35 million. For comparison, Express Scripts covers 90 million people and CVS covers more than 65 million.
It may also result in the company increasing its bargaining power when negotiating with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices.
Over the years, tensions have been rising between drug companies and customers as the costs of new treatments have skyrocketed. The pharmacy benefits industry has started putting more pressure on drug makers to lower the prices of the drugs they sell.
Express Scripts, the biggest pharmacy benefits company in the industry, recently led a campaign to lower the cost of the $1,000-a-day treatments for hepatitis C created and marketed by Gilead Sciences Inc. and AbbVie Inc.
UnitedHealth is financing the acquisition through a combination of cash and debt. The acquisition will be UnitedHealth’s largest purchase ever, according Newshub.org, today.
Catamaran is a benefits manager, helping to administer the drug coverage in health plans. The employees at Catamaran work with employers and insurers to negotiate prices with pharmacies and drug companies. They also work to manage drugs for patients in a multitude of ways, including handling complex treatments and maintaining lists of covered drugs.
The purchase of Catamaran will help UnitedHealth boost its drug-benefits business. The drug-benefits industry records about $100 billion in annual sales.
UnitedHealth is planning to merge Catamaran with its existing drug-benefit unit, called OptumRX. Optum covers about 30 million people, while Catamaran represents about 35 million. For comparison, Express Scripts covers 90 million people and CVS covers more than 65 million.
It may also result in the company increasing its bargaining power when negotiating with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices.
Over the years, tensions have been rising between drug companies and customers as the costs of new treatments have skyrocketed. The pharmacy benefits industry has started putting more pressure on drug makers to lower the prices of the drugs they sell.
Express Scripts, the biggest pharmacy benefits company in the industry, recently led a campaign to lower the cost of the $1,000-a-day treatments for hepatitis C created and marketed by Gilead Sciences Inc. and AbbVie Inc.
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