Supermarket News editor-in-chief David Orgel is the latest to write about the "controversial" comments of Express Scripts CEO George Paz, who dismissed the value of pharmacy by saying "...drugs are drugs, and it shouldn't matter that much who's counting to 30." 

Last week's anti-pharmacy comments of Express Scripts CEO George Paz have touched off fury on Twitter and in the blog world, very similar to the reaction of similar comments by Medco CEO David Snow last October.

NACDS says “pill counters” comment rivals Medco CEO’s “robots vs. pharmacists” comment in insensitivity toward patients and pharmacists alike

Following in the tradition of Medco CEO David Snow, who disregarded neighborhood pharmacists in remarks at a Cleveland Clinic conference last October, Express Scripts CEO George Paz today revealed his apparent less-than-high-esteem for the otherwise highly popular profession.

Associated Press business writer Tom Murphy quoted Paz as saying the following during a conference call with analysts:  "At the end of the day ... Nexium is Nexium, Lipitor is Lipitor, drugs are drugs, and it shouldn't matter that much who's counting to 30."

“These CEOs told Congress in two recent hearings that they like pharmacists.  Their comments about pharmacists in other settings may not rise to contempt of Congress, but they certainly meet the standard for contempt of patient care,” said National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE.

“This comment by Express Scripts CEO George Paz rivals the insensitivity toward patients and pharmacists demonstrated by Medco CEO David Snow in his now infamous ‘robots vs. pharmacists’ comment.”

In an opinion column, Harry C. Alford, co-founder, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, wrote that if the Federal Trade Commission reviews the proposed Express Scripts and Medco merger with the scrutiny that it deserves, "it is difficult to see how they could possibly allow it to move forward."

Writing in Black Voice News, Alford called the proposed merger of pharmaceutical insurance middle-men "a corporate merger that could result in great strides backward for African Americans and others suffering from economic and health ills."

Perhaps it was deception, or perhaps it was denial, when Medco CEO David Snow dismissed the relationship between patients and community pharmacists as "fiction."  In any case, his words at an October healthcare conference at Cleveland Clinic have bitten him back again, this time with a member of Congress from Wisconsin citing his rhetoric in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission.

Medco CEO David Snow's "Robots vs. Pharmacists" remarks sent the pharmacy blogging community into orbit in October, where it has understandably remained since that time.

Pharmacy Times is the most recent publication to report on the revealing remarks by Medco CEO David Snow at a Cleveland Clinic healthcare conference earlier this month. NACDS says the remarks provide insights into the thinking of Express Scripts and Medco that relate directly to fears surrounding the proposed mega-merger of the two companies.

A trade publication reporter contacted NACDS to request a comment about recent remarks by Medco Chairman and CEO David Snow regarding community pharmacy.  NACDS responded by saying that the remarks “are a window into the true thinking of the companies [Medco and Express Scripts] that are seeking to merge.”