Max Nisen, Columnist

Cigna-Express Scripts Deal Leaves Rivals in the Lurch

There are no other obvious opportunities for major vertical deals.

March 8, 2018 at 2:43 PM UTC

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

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The health-care industry's game of musical chairs just got more intense and more expensive.

Cigna Inc. on Thursday announced a $54 billion purchase (nearly $70 billion including assumed debt) of pharmacy benefit management giant Express Scripts Holding Co. Inc. The deal follows pharmacy/PBM hybrid CVS Health Inc.'s $67 billion purchase of Cigna rival Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s years-long investments in its own PBM and providers.