Shares of Forest Laboratories Inc. fell more than 4 percent on Monday as investors reacted to news that Medicare will not require its insurers to cover Forest’s Lexapro antidepressant. Earlier this month, the government agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid told insurance plans that they only need to cover Forest’s older antidepressant, Celexa, which now faces competition from cheaper generics. The decision did not become public until this morning, according to Pacific Growth Equities analyst Patricia Bank.Bank said the news means that Forest could have trouble growing its Lexapro franchise, but is not completely unexpected.
