Express Scripts

Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) began in 1986 in St. Louis, as a result of a joint venture between a retail chain of more than 100 pharmacies and Sanus Corp. Health Systems. Express Scripts was purchased by New York Life Insurance Company in 1989 and became a publicly traded company in 1992. Through expansion of its client base, product lines and several acquisitions (ValueRx, Diversified Pharmaceutical Services (Diversified), and National Prescription Administrators (NPA)) Express Scripts employed over 1500 employees by 1998.

Express Scripts is a pharmacy benefit manager. They process pharmaceutical claims for members at network pharmacies and at their own mail order pharmacies. They provide services to manage drug plans for government agencies (both as administrator of employee benefits and public assistance programs), corporations, and unions. Their largest client is the United States Department of Defense's TRICARE program.

On February 25, 2002, Express Scripts completed the acquisition of the assets of Phoenix Marketing Group (Holdings), Inc. Phoenix Marketing Group is the largest full-service prescription drug sample fulfillment provider in the United States.

In the first quarter of 2004 Express Scripts acquired CuraScript, Inc, a specialty pharmacy located primarily in Orlando, FL.

On October 14, 2005 Express Scripts Completed the Acquisition of Priority Healthcare and now has integrated the line of business with its wholly-owned specialty pharmacy subsidiary CuraScript

Today, Express Scripts employs over 13,500 people throughout the United States. The corporate headquarters is located in St. Louis with major North America sites in Albuquerque, NM; East Hanover, NJ; Orlando, FL; Bensalem, PA; Bloomington, MN; Orlando, FL; Farmington Hills, MI; Harrisburg, PA; Pueblo, CO; St. Marys, GA; Tempe, AZ; Troy, NY; Mississauga, Ontario; and Montreal, Quebec.

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History

In late December 2006, Express Scripts made a proposal to purchase Caremark. Express Scripts lost the race to acquire Caremark to CVS Corporation, which became CVS/Caremark Corporation on March 22, 2007.

On June 8, 2007, the ribbon was cut on Express Scripts' new world headquarters at the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The new building houses nearly 1,200 employees and is used concurrently with the former corporate site in the Riverport Business Complex in Maryland Heights, MO.

ValueRx

ValueRx was formed in Detroit in 1987 through the merger of Medicost, a small prescription drug claims processor and Health Information Design, a specialty drug utilization review company. The company was purchased by Value Health in 1988. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, ValueRx became the largest Value Health subsidiary, employing 1,400 people across the United States. Express Scripts purchased ValueRx on April 1, 1998.^[1]

Fraud Allegations

On August 4th, 2004, New York state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against Express Scripts alleging that the company had kept tens of millions of dollars in drug rebates owed to the state. The suit was filed in the state Supreme Court in Albany County.^[2]

Illegal HGH Distribution

On September 19, 2007, Specialty Distribution Services Inc., a subsidiary of Express Scripts Inc., under an agreement with federal prosecutors, agreed to pay a $10.5 million penalty and cooperate with ongoing law enforcement investigations for distributing human growth hormone to "well known athletes and entertainers". ^[3]

References

1. ^ Merger of Express Scripts, ValueRx will create new PBM industry giant - pharmacy benefit managment Drug Store News, March 16, 1998 by James Frederick; accessed 04 November 2006
2. ^ Drug Benefit Company Accused of Fraud
3. ^ [1]