UnitedHealth Alum Steers Merger Aimed at Upending Drug Middlemen

Eversana, a company that helps drugmakers sell their medicines, has acquired a smaller firm called Waltz Healththat helps employers and health insurance companies purchase cheaper drugs, in a bid to build an alternative to traditional pharmacy benefits middlemen in the US.

The combined company, which will remain closely held, is valued at $6 billion, according to Mark Thierer, who will lead it, though he declined to say what Eversana paid for Waltz.

Thierer has a long resume in the industry: he led a pharmacy benefit manager that UnitedHealth Group Inc. purchased for about $13 billion in 2015, ...