News Briefs: UnitedHealth Names Patrick Conway CEO of Optum Rx

UnitedHealth Group has promoted Patrick Conway, M.D., to CEO of Optum Rx, the company’s PBM. Conway revealed the new role in a LinkedIn post. He was previously the CEO of Care Solutions at Optum, UnitedHealth’s health care services division. Heather Cianfrocco, Optum Rx’s CEO, is now the president of Optum. Before coming to UnitedHealth, Conway served as CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and as director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. has formed a partnership with Scripta Insights, a health care software company that works with health plans and self-insured employers to lower pharmacy benefit costs. Scripta plans on integrating the Mark Cuban company’s discounted pricing into its Med Mapper product. Alex Oshmyansky, CEO of Mark Cuban Cost Plus, said the companies “share a common goal of providing consumers the lowest possible price for their prescription medications.” The Mark Cuban company primarily sells generic medications at a discount, but earlier this year it began offering brand-name drugs from Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson Co., and IBSA Institut Biochimique SA, a pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland.