Health care provider WellPoint Inc., parent of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut, today completed the $4.7 billion cash sale of its pharmacy benefits management business to Express Scripts.
The deal, announced in April, places WellPoint’s former NextRx division under the Express Scripts umbrella.
It includes a 10-year agreement in which Express Scripts will provide pharmacy-benefit management, home delivery and other services to members of WellPoint’s healthcare affiliates.
In connection with the NextRx sale, WellPoint revised upward its earnings per share guidance for the full year 2009 to a range of $9.40 to $9.46. Of that amount, WellPoint estimates a fourth-quarter net gain of $4.34 per share tied to the sale, plus restructuring and other related charges.
