1.   And health care experts say that even for private companies, drug benefit managers have not been able to put a lid on surging costs.

2.   And pharmacists in a dozen states are pressing for laws that would tighten regulatory oversight of pharmacy benefit managers.

3.   A different scenario has Marion buying a pharmacy benefit manager in a vertical-integration strategy.

4.   Both Lilly and SmithKline soon sold their pharmacy benefit managers at substantial losses, but Merck has held on to Medco.

5.   But doctors and pharmacists have expressed concern about the market power of pharmacy benefit managers.

6.   But pharmacy benefit managers are coming under increasing scrutiny.

7.   But the decline in interest rates, publicity about the soaring stock market and an aggressive education campaign by benefits managers have changed attitudes and habits.

8.   But the pharmacists argue that the drug benefit managers are large and complex organizations, which should be licensed by state pharmacy boards and supervised by state insurance departments.

9.   Coverage would be administered by a single private benefits manager in each region.

10.   Drug benefit managers develop networks of retail pharmacies that may include thousands of drugstores.