Express Scripts Drops Pharmacy With Ties to Horizon Pharma
- Drug benefits manager says Linden Care violated agreement
- Horizon Pharma shares drop 20% at the close in New York
Express Scripts Holding Co., the largest U.S. manager of prescription drug benefits, said it removed a mail-order pharmacy from its network after finding it dispensed a substantial portion of its medications from Horizon Pharma Plc and didn’t fulfill its contractual agreements.
The decision to cut off Linden Care LLC is part of Express Scripts’ continuing examination of relationships between drugmakers and pharmacies, started after recent revelations about the close ties between Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and a mail-order pharmacy called Philidor Rx Services. Express Scripts is already evaluating several other pharmacies it said get a substantial portion of their business from dispensing Horizon drugs -- businesses it calls "captive pharmacies."