Pharmacy groups seeking to stop Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX) from buying rival pharmacy-benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS) have asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order to block the transaction.

The temporary order should either stop Express Scripts from completing the deal, or order the company "to hold separate Medco's assets and operations" until the court can make a final judgment on the matter, the pharmacy groups said in a court filing late Friday. The request is connected to a lawsuit the groups filed Thursday in an attempt to stop the deal, which could close next week.

Express Scripts declined comment on the restraining-order request. In July, the company disclosed plans to buy Medco in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $29 billion.

The companies are awaiting clearance from the Federal Trade Commission following a lengthy antitrust review. The FTC and U.S. Department of Justice are the entities that typically go to court when they believe a proposed merger is anticompetitive; private-party lawsuits to stop deals face a high hurdle.

A temporary-restraining order could delay the deal while giving the court some breathing room to consider the just-filed lawsuit. But "odds for the grant of a TRO in this situation are long," said Stephen Axinn, a senior partner and antitrust expert with the law firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP.

Pharmacy-benefit managers, or PBMs, handle drug benefits for health plans and corporate clients. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and National Community Pharmacists Association have argued that Express Scripts and Medco would, as a combined company, gain clout to boost costs through higher fees and drug prices.

The companies have taken the opposite position, saying a bigger PBM can produce more cost savings for customers. The companies said this week that their deal may close as early as next week, indicating antitrust approval from the FTC is close at hand.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The pharmacy trade groups were joined in the suit by nine community pharmacy companies that have a presence in that state.

Express Scripts shares rose 1.9% to close at $54.18 Friday while shares of Medco climbed 0.2% to $70.30. The purchase price for Medco shareholders is 3.4% above the company's closing price.

-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 617-654-6728; jon.kamp@dowjones.com

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