The Big ThreeAsk most pharmacy benefit plan sponsors to name 5 PBMs and most come up shy at around three. Not surprisingly, this market dominance has earned the exalted stratification of becoming known as “The Big Three.” Repositioning the aforementioned question to “Name the Big Three” and most plan sponsors fill in the blanks,not with Bird, Parish and McHale, but with Medco, CVS/Caremark and Express Scripts.  They are shocked to learn that there are actually over 60 PBMs currently competing for their business.  What’s more shocking is when the data shows that the PBM troika they thought they knew turns out to be the wrong answer. Here’s the facts regarding market share by covered members and total scripts:

Top 25 Pharmacy Benefit Management Companies and Market Share
By Membership, as of 1st Quarter 2009

Atlantic Information Services compiles these data from pharmacy benefit management companies and other publicly available information sources. Published by PBMI.

Company Rx Covered Lives Market Share
CVS/Caremark Rx, Inc. 82,000,000 12.02%
Walgreens-OptionCare 75,000,000 10.99%
ICORE Healthcare, Inc. 60,000,000 8.79%
Medco Health Solutions, Inc. 60,000,000 8.79%
Express Scripts/CuraScript 55,000,000 8.06%
NovoLogix (formerly Ancillary Care Management) 40,000,000 5.86%
WellPoint NextRx 35,049,000 5.14%
Argus Health Systems, Inc. 28,600,000 4.19%
MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc. 27,000,000 3.96%
HealthTrans 15,300,000 2.24%
Prime Therapeutics, LLC 14,700,000 2.15%
Provider Synergies, LLC 14,000,000 2.05%
ACS, Inc. 14,000,000 2.05%
Health Information Designs, Inc. 12,000,000 1.76%
RxStrategies, Inc. 12,000,000 1.76%
ScriptSave 12,000,000 1.76%
Prescription Solutions 11,754,249 1.72%
Aetna Pharmacy Management (APM) 11,000,000 1.61%
First Health Services Corporation 10,000,000 1.47%
Walgreens Health Services Division 9,700,000 1.42%
CIGNA Pharmacy Management 6,400,000 0.94%
Catalyst Rx 6,028,140 0.88%
RESTAT, LLC 6,000,000 0.88%
Sanovia Corporation 5,000,000 0.73%
Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, Inc. 5,000,000 0.73%
39 other pharmacy benefit industry participants 54,807,060 8.03%
SOURCE: Atlantic Information Services’ (AIS) exclusive quarterly survey of pharmacy benefit management companies conducted by Drug Benefit News during the 1st quarter of 2009.   METHODOLOGY: Survey conducted by AIS researchers and supplemented by publicly available information sources. Survey includes companies that describe themselves as PBMs, pharmacy benefit administrators, specialty pharmacy providers and others providing pharmacy benefit services. Membership=lives covered under any/all pharmacy benefit contracts served by the company; members may be served by multiple contracts held by a single company or by multiple companies, and so may be counted more than once. Company market shares calculated as percentage of total industry-wide membership identified in this database.

Now lets see the contenders based on total number of scripts:

Top 25 Pharmacy Benefit Management Companies and Market Share
By Annual Prescription Volume, as of 1st Quarter 2009
Atlantic Information Servicescompiles these data from pharmacy benefit management companies
and other publicly available information sources.

Company Total Rx/Year Market Share
CVS/Caremark Rx, Inc. 594,999,120 15.09%
Medco Health Solutions, Inc. 586,000,000 14.86%
Argus Health Systems, Inc. 578,000,000 14.66%
Express Scripts/CuraScript 420,400,000 10.66%
WellPoint NextRx 267,651,000 6.79%
Prescription Solutions 254,091,612 6.44%
ACS, Inc. 250,000,000 6.34%
MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc. 170,400,000 4.32%
First Health Services Corporation 148,500,000 3.77%
Prime Therapeutics, LLC 120,000,000 3.04%
HealthTrans 97,330,000 2.47%
Aetna Pharmacy Management (APM) 89,709,989 2.27%
Walgreens Health Services Division 84,105,927 2.13%
CIGNA Pharmacy Management 75,000,000 1.90%
Catalyst Rx 51,170,234 1.30%
SXC Health Solutions, Inc. 39,362,980 1.00%
RESTAT, LLC 24,000,000 0.61%
ScriptSave 17,000,000 0.43%
FutureScripts 13,182,861 0.33%
PerformRx 9,771,216 0.25%
National Pharmaceutical Services 8,500,000 0.22%
Navitus Health Solutions, LLC 8,000,000 0.20%
BioScrip 7,735,710 0.20%
RegenceRx 5,237,234 0.13%
NovoLogix (formerly Ancillary Care Management) 4,800,000 0.12%
32 other pharmacy benefit industry participants 18,572,029 0.47%
SOURCE: Atlantic Information Services’ (AIS) exclusive quarterly survey of pharmacy benefit management companies conducted by Drug Benefit News during the 1st quarter of 2009.

Of course, combining the Express Scripts numbers with their newest acquisition of NextRx and you get a really goliath market presence. Interestingly, market share alone, does not necessarily dictate the best deals for the plan sponsor. Each PBM has a different concentration, whether traditional or transparent business model, and each must be evaluated based on the needs and circumstances presented by and for the individual plan sponsor client.

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