CVS Health, a healthcare conglomerate valued at $117 billion, has announced plans to split its pharmacy chain into a separate company named CVS Pharmacy. This new entity will include 9,000 pharmacies, in-store clinics, and the mail-order prescription business.
The breakup, planned for 2028, will separate the retail pharmacy business from the health insurance and pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark. While the pharmacies will be spun off, the insurance and benefits businesses will remain together.
This move represents one of the largest breakups in the history of the healthcare industry. It dismantles the vertically integrated conglomerate created in 2018 and reverses the company's $78 billion acquisition of Aetna.
The company is splitting its drugstore and insurance businesses amid mounting regulatory pressure. Analysts suggest that following a roughly two-year turnaround, the retail pharmacy business and other units may now be strong enough to stand on their own.