American Healthcare Companies' Shares Dip

Shares of American health-care companies with pharmacy benefit management (PBM) units continued to decline on Tuesday, adding to Monday's drop. This follows comments from Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about President-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to reforming the PBM system.

• Stock Performance:
  • UnitedHealth's shares decreased by up to 2.9%.
  • Cigna's shares fell by up to 4.1%.
  • CVS Health's shares slipped by as much as 2.5%.

Bourla's remarks came after a dinner meeting with Trump, who has previously criticized PBMs as the "horrible middleman" profiting more than drug companies while providing little value. Trump intends to eliminate their role to help lower drug costs.

Key Players in the PBM Market

Major U.S. players include:
– CVS Health's Caremark
– Cigna's Express Scripts
– UnitedHealth Group's Optum

These companies also operate in health insurance and pharmacy businesses.

Company Responses

In response to Trump’s remarks, a CVS spokesperson told Reuters that the company employs free-market competition to tackle drug price gouging. They expressed pride in making prescription drugs more affordable and welcomed discussions with government officials about their contributions.

Express Scripts and Optum did not provide immediate comments.

Ongoing Investigations

The influence of PBMs on drug prices is currently under investigation by the House Oversight Committee.

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