CVS Chief Bets Big on Health Care Thrust With Omnicare Deal

CVS Health Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Merlo is betting billions that nursing-home pharmacy operator Omnicare Inc. can further his efforts to transform the drugstore chain into a dominant health-care player.

Under Merlo, who took the helm in 2011, CVS stopped the sale of cigarettes, saying it was contrary to the mission of improving customers’ health, and changed its name to CVS Health from CVS Caremark. He has aggressively expanded CVS’s in-store health clinics, with plans to add about 600 locations by 2017, and in 2013 purchased an operator of drug-infusion centers.