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☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tesla, Verizon, Paramount, Coinbase and more
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tesla , Li Auto — Tesla shares declined nearly 4%, hitting a 52-week low, following announcements of price cuts. Verizon reported $33 billion in revenue, slightly under the $33.32 billion figure penciled in by analysts, per FactSet. Informatica — The enterprise data management company tumbled nearly 9% after acquisition talks with Salesforce broke down. Salesforce shares inched higher by less than 1%. Riot Platforms — The bitcoin miner rallied 14% following the " halving" event , in which bitcoin mining rewards were cut in half.

Persons: Li Auto, Li, CNBC's David Faber, Salesforce, Crypto, Coinbase, MicroStrategy, UnitedHealth's OptumRx, Cardinal Health's, Zions, —, Jesse Pound, Samantha Subin, Michelle Fox, Alexander Harring Organizations: Tesla, Reuters, Li Auto, Verizon Communications, Verizon, Paramount Global, Sony, Informatica, JPMorgan, Health Locations: China

☆ UnitedHealth's first-quarter report will offer a window into Change cyberattack costs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Bertha Coombs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

"Everybody looks to United as the bellwether of all of health-care services. This will be different," said Lisa Gill, managing director and health care analyst at JPMorgan. The data breach at the Change Healthcare unit forced the firm to take down its massive billing and payment processing service. While the company has restored services for pharmacies, the outage has continued to disrupt operations for health-care providers across the country. Larger providers, such as home infusion services firm Option Care Health , have also warned that the outage could impact their quarterly results.

Persons: UnitedHealth Group's, Lisa Gill, Scott Fidel, UnitedHealth, they'd, James Allred, he's, Allred Organizations: JPMorgan, Healthcare, Optum, OptumRx, Stephens, American Medical Association, Aesthetics, Care Locations: Nashville

☆ Foot Locker, Teamsters Show Their Drug-Benefit Managers the Door
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Melanie Evans | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Employers and unions are getting fed up with the firms they have used for years to help control their spending on prescription drugs—because their costs keep soaring. Footwear retailer Foot Locker dropped UnitedHealth Group ’s OptumRx drug-benefit manager last year, while a Teamsters fund in Philadelphia recently reupped with its replacement for CVS Health ’s Caremark.

Persons: Locker Organizations: Teamsters, CVS Health Locations: Philadelphia

One of the nation's largest grocery chains is the latest company to agree to settle lawsuits over the U.S. opioid crisis. In a deal announced Friday, the Kroger Co. would pay up to $1.4 billion over 11 years. Kroger currently has stores in 35 states — virtually everywhere save the Northeast, the northern plains and Hawaii. Over the past eight years, prescription drug manufacturers, wholesalers, consultants and pharmacies have proposed or finalized opioid settlements totaling more than $50 billion, including at least 12 others worth more than $1 billion. “Kroger has long served as a leader in combatting opioid abuse and remains committed to patient safety,” the company said.

Persons: Kroger, —, Jayne Conroy, ”, overprescribing, Conroy, “ Kroger, OptumRx Organizations: Kroger, U.S, Supreme, Purdue Pharma, Associated Press, Albertsons, Pharmacy Locations: Hawaii, New Mexico, West Virginia, U.S

☆ Inside the struggles at Calibrate, a new kind of weight-loss startup that's facing a mountain of patient complaints and refunds
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Weight-loss startup Calibrate has struggled to get patients access to buzzy drugs like Ozempic. Kenyon's startup Calibrate, which she launched in June 2020, is one of the healthcare companies feeding the frenzy. CalibrateThe company is now running up against several massive challenges: Weight-loss drugs are expensive and in short supply, and health insurers are increasingly reluctant to pay for them. Kenyon said about 20% of Calibrate members do not have coverage for weight-loss medications, and around half of those people request refunds from Calibrate. Want to tell us about your experience with Calibrate or weight-loss drugs?

Persons: lightbulb, Isabelle Kenyon, Kenyon, Jenny Craig, OptumRx, She's, she's, Saxenda, —, weren't, It's, they've, Holly, hadn't, hasn't, Claire Rosenzweig, Rosenzweig, it's, Andrew Kelly, Shelby Livingston, Rebecca Torrence Organizations: New, Tiger Global, Founders Fund, Optum Ventures, FedEx, Food and Drug Administration, Jefferies, Better Business Bureau, BBB, Better Business, Metropolitan New, Better, Apple, Businessolver, Optum, UnitedHealth, Employees, REUTERS, Madryn Asset Management, SM Ventures, Ventures Locations: America, New York, Danish, GLP, Florida, Metropolitan New York, slivingston@insider.com, rtorrence@insider.com

☆ US FTC expands probe into pharmacy benefit managers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it had sought information from two privately held companies that negotiate drug rebates on behalf of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as part of its probe into how PBMs affect pricing of prescription drugs. The two companies, Zinc Health Services and Ascent Health Services, are group purchasing organizations, that negotiate after-market discounts or rebates with drug manufacturers on behalf of PBMs and hold the contracts that govern those rebates. Zinc Health negotiates rebates for CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) and Ascent Health for Cigna Group's (CI.N) Express Scripts unit and Prime Therapeutics, which is a privately held PBM, the FTC said on Wednesday. PBMs act as middlemen and negotiate rebates and fees with drug manufacturers, create lists of medications that are covered by insurance, and reimburse pharmacies for patients' prescriptions. Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Drug-Prices Investigation Focused on Middlemen Opens in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Liz Essley Whyte | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

House Republicans have launched an investigation into the companies that manage drug benefits, dialing up the scrutiny of the middlemen who play an important role in how much medicines cost. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee said Wednesday that it has sent letters to CVS Health Corp.’s CVS Caremark, Cigna Group ’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s OptumRx—the largest pharmacy-benefit managers—seeking documents about the drug-price rebates they negotiate and fees they charge.

☆ Congress Investigates How Pharma Middlemen Affect Drug Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Liz Essley Whyte | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company negotiates directly with drugmakers. So far, that's been the strategy for the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. In October, Cost Plus Drug Company announced a partnership with Capital Blue Cross. Cuban said he wanted Cost Plus Drug Company to be as transparent as possible on pricing. Cost Plus Drug Company is considering a test program for insulin that would offer a 90-day supply of insulin, or a total of 12 vials, for $170.

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