UPDATE 2-Blue Shield California to drop CVS Caremark as pharmacy benefit manager - WSJ

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Aug 17 (Reuters) - Non-profit health insurer Blue Shield of California plans to drop CVS Health's Caremark as its pharmacy-benefit manager, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The loss of Blue Shield marks another blow to CVS's Caremark, which will also lose the contract to manage Centene's $40 billion annual pharmacy needs from next year.

Shares of CVS Health fell 5% in premarket trading after the report.

Blue Shield of California did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company said it will work with partners including Amazon.com and entrepreneur Mark Cuban to provide at-home delivery and access to low-cost medications, according to the report.

Shares of rivals Cigna Group and UnitedHealth Group, which also have pharmacy-benefit management units, fell between 1% and 2% in premarket trade.

Pharmacy benefit managers serve as intermediaries between drug manufacturers and health insurance plans and pharmacies, and help negotiate prescription drug prices. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal and PoojA Desai)