CVS-Aetna Deal Nears Antitrust OK As Drug Plan Divestitures Loom

CVS Health’s management team appears confident its acquisition of Aetna will survive antitrust scrutiny though there may be divestitures where the pharmacy chain and insurer sell overlapping Medicare drug coverage.

CVS top executives Wednesday acknowledged “productive discussions with regulators” despite an increasingly vocal group of opponents to the deal including the American Medical Association, which has called for the Justice Department to stop the merger.

Analyst speculation and at least one media report has centered on “competition between the companies in the prescription-drug market,” Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. The deal, however, has escaped concerns that derailed mergers of health insurers in the past. (see more)