Diversified Pharmaceutical Services entered the market in 1976 as the

pharmacy benefit manager In the United States, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Progra ...

for

United HealthCare UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest c ...

, a leading

managed care organization The term managed care or managed healthcare is used in the United States to describe a group of activities intended to reduce the cost of providing health care and providing American health insurance while improving the quality of that care ("ma ...

. It pioneered many cost containment strategies that are now core

services and became a recognized leader in clinical programs.

History

Diversified Pharmaceutical Services (DPS) grew out of the pharmacy department within United Healthcare. The company was sold to

SmithKline Beecham GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...

for $2.3 billion in May 1994. In 1999, it was acquired by Express Scripts in 1999 for $700 million in cash to create what was then the third largest pharmacy benefit manager in the United States.

References

Health maintenance organizations Life sciences industry Medical and health organizations based in Missouri 1994 mergers and acquisitions 1999 mergers and acquisitions {{Med-company-stub