Study Concludes AdvancePCS and Other Discount Drug Card Programs Achieve Significant Savings For Uninsured Seniors

Business Wire, March 11, 2003

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2003

Discount drug cards offered by AdvancePCS (Nasdaq:ADVP), the nation's leading health improvement company, and other pharmacy benefit managers offer significant savings to uninsured seniors who are paying the highest prices for their prescriptions, according to a study released today by Brandeis University.

The study, "PBM-Administered Drug Discount Cards: Savings For Uninsured Seniors," found the discount cards saved patients an average of 26 percent for generic medications, or $7 per prescription, and 14 percent, or $11, for each brand-name prescription over full retail pharmacy prices. The overall average discounted price for prescription drugs purchased using a discount card was 15 percent, or $10 for each prescription filled.

Brandeis also found that discount cards save senior citizens who require multiple medications, as most seniors do, hundreds of dollars for a year's supply of drugs. In one profile, Brandeis found that a Medicare participant whose doctor prescribes furosemide, Lipitor, Fosamax and hydrocodone would be charged $2,542 a year for these medications by his or her local pharmacy. If that same senior had a discount card, the savings would be $525, or 21 percent.

Brandeis researchers analyzed more than 3.5 million pharmacy claims from eight national discount drug card programs from January through March 2002, including data from AdvancePCS.

The AdvancePCS RxSavings Plan helps cash-paying consumers without prescription drug coverage save money on all prescriptions. Two types of discounts combine to provide the overall savings: pharmacy network discounts, available on all drugs, and pharmaceutical manufacturer discounts, applied to select drugs. Unlike other prescription drug discount cards that provide savings only to elderly and low-income consumers, the AdvancePCS RxSavings Plan is free and provides discounts for anyone without prescription drug coverage, with no age or income restrictions.

Consumers can obtain an AdvancePCS RxSavings Plan card free of charge at www.RxSavingsPlan.com or by calling (800) ADVANCE or (800) 238-2623.

For a link to the full Brandeis report, please visit www.advancepcs.com or www.PCMAnet.org.

About AdvancePCS

AdvancePCS (www.advancepcs.com) is the nation's largest independent provider of health improvement services, touching the lives of more than 75 million health plan members and managing approximately $28 billion in annual prescription drug spending. AdvancePCS offers health plans a wide range of health improvement products and services designed to improve the quality of care delivered to health plan members and manage costs.

The company's capabilities include integrated mail service and retail pharmacy networks, innovative clinical services, customized disease management programs, specialty pharmacy, clinical trials and outcomes research, information management, prescription drug services for the uninsured, and online health information for consumers. AdvancePCS clients include Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations, insurance companies and HMOs, Fortune 500 employers, Taft-Hartley groups, state and local governments, and other health plan sponsors.

AdvancePCS is ranked by Fortune magazine as one of America's 100 fastest-growing public companies and is included on the Forbes Platinum 400 list of best big companies. AdvancePCS earned the number two spot on the Barron's 500 list of best performing companies. AdvancePCS is both a Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 company.