Cigna’s Evernorth Invests $3.5 Billion In Specialty Pharmacy Formerly Owned By Walgreens
📝 usncan Note: Cigna’s Evernorth Invests $3.5 Billion In Specialty Pharmacy Formerly Owned By Walgreens
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Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services, looking to bolster its lucrative specialty pharmacy business, is investing $3.5 billion in Shield Health Solutions, which is now owned by the private equity firm that took over Walgreens. In this photo is The Cigna Group headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut, US, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/Bloomberg
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Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services, looking to bolster its lucrative specialty pharmacy business, is investing $3.5 billion in Shield Health Solutions, which is now owned by the private equity firm that took over Walgreens
Evernorth’s investment in Shields, which was sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners last week in the $10 billion takeover of Walgreens, is in the form of preferred stock and is not expected to have a material impact to The Cigna Group’s previously issued 2025 adjusted EPS guidance of at least $29.60. Evernorth already operates Accredo specialty pharmacy that includes home delivery and has nurses who do in home infusions etc.
Shields, which was one of Walgreens most lucrative businesses, operates specialty pharmacies in hospitals and health systems. Specialty pharmacies are an increasingly important player in the U.S. health system given the flood of expensive drugs on the market derived from biotechnology. Such medicines are more complicated than pills and capsules picked up at the corner drugstore and often require specialized administration, refrigeration, packaging and patient instructions.
And specialized medications are also the nation’s top sellers and a key reason healthcare costs are rising. GLP-1 weight loss prescriptions Wegovy, Rybelsus, Saxenda, Ozempic and Zepbound – specialized medications that require injection — are the “single biggest driver” of employer health costs, adding 1% to the total premium expense for 2025, data released last fall from the benefits consultancy Aon said.
Specialty drugs account for well more than half of the total prescription spending any health plan, employer or government health program manages. Employer clients tell benefits consultants specialty costs easily account for 60% or more of their total drug spending, particularly as more Americans flock to GLP-1 medicines.
“Demand for specialty medications continues to grow at an accelerated pace, and Evernorth is uniquely positioned to serve the rapidly expanding number of individuals living with complex and chronic conditions and the doctors who care for them,” said David M. Cordani, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Cigna Group. “Investing in Shields aligns with our commitment to delivering exceptional care across health care settings – from home to physician’s office or clinic, to hospital.”
