Express Scripts, Medco Deal Gets FTC Approval (Update 1)

Updated to reflect Express Scripts, Medco lawyer comments and additional data throughout.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A rapidly changing competitive landscape in the industry to fill prescription drug benefits paved the way for Monday's approval of Express Scripts (ESRX) $29 billion acquisition of Medco Health Solutions (MHS) by the Federal Trade Commission, in what was a hotly contested antitrust review.

In approving the merger by a 3-1 vote, the FTC said that while the tie-up will create an industry powerhouse the the deal was unlikely to raise the cost of prescription drug plans for individuals, companies and government agencies. While investors had anticipated a deal approval, Express Scripts shares continued a 2012 surge on high expectations for potential cost savings as a result of the deal.

"The FTC is not stuck in cement in terms of historical market positions or market shares," says Mike Cowie, a partner at law firm Dechert, which advised Medco Health Solutions on the antitrust review to the deal. Cowie notes that the pharmacy benefits manager industry was facing new competitive threats from UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Catalyst Health Solutions (CHSI) . "When you have an industry undergoing rapid change like this, it shows that it is highly competitive."

In particular analysts targeted the emergence of UnitedHealth as a competitor, after it previously was one of Medco's key customers with a $11 billion contract that represented nearly 20% of the company's sales. Prior to Medco's merger agreement with Express Scripts, UnitedHealth said in June that it would not renew a contract covering 20 million of its pharmacy benefits customers that expires in 2012.

"The emergence of UNH as a major player, the continued presence of several carve-ins, and increasing scale from mid-size players has moved the discussion from a Big 3 paradigm to a landscape with multiple distinct competitive PBM models," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Glen Santangelo in a Monday note to clients