Aetna says it'll sell its Medicare drug business as it seeks approval for its $69 billion takeover of CVS Health

Thomson Reuters

FILE PHOTO - Mark Bertolini, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, participates in a panel discussion at the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco

• Aetna will sell its Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans as it seeks approval of its planned $69 billion takeover of CVS Health.
• The deal is currently being reviewed by the Department of Justice.

(Reuters) - Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Thursday it would sell its standalone Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans Inc as it seeks U.S. antitrust approval for a planned acquisition by CVS Health Corp.

The $69 billion deal is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and if approved it would be the second largest healthcare deal this year - one that the companies say will help cut soaring costs in the sector. (https://bit.ly/2zzsZDI)

Aetna said its Medicare prescription drug business covers 2.2 million members. It disclosed the sale, which had been expected, in a regulatory filing. It did not provide terms.

CVS is the largest manager of pharmacy drug plans for the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled with a 24 percent market share while Aetna has an 8.7 percent share, according to a recent Barclays research note.

CVS said in a separate filing it expects the Aetna deal to close in the early part of the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Jeffrey Benkoe)