Investors in healthcare companies ranging from drugmakers to insurers are not taking the news well of a new healthcare company from Amazon, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Stocks of insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and some drug makers tumbled Tuesday, even though details on the nascent company are scant.
Insurance giant Anthem’s shares were down 5.74 percent and Cigna 6 percent as of 12:30 p.m. Another major spike was a nearly 6 percent drop for pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. A pharmacy benefit manager oversees a prescription drug plan for an insurer or employer.
Pharmacy chain CVS, which is pursuing a merger with Aetna, is also down by 4.48 percent.
Other insurers also took tumbles, including the biggest U.S. insurer UnitedHealth (3.63 percent) and Humana (2.91 percent).
Some drugmaker stocks were also down but not by as much. For instance, major pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer was down 3.61 percent but Merck only by 1.61 percent.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca was down 1.16 percent.
There are few details as to what exactly the joint venture will focus on. A statement Tuesday only said that the companies would look at ways technology can give employees a simple and cheap way to get good healthcare.
Wall Street analysts are already trying to determine what the venture will focus on.
Companies at greater risk of competing with the new health venture are drugmakers, wholesalers, and pharmacy benefit managers, according to Andrea Harris from Height Securities.
She said in a note on the investment website SeekingAlpha that if Amazon acquires Express Scripts, the last big independent pharmacy benefits manager, then it “would be in a strong position to drive down prices.”
