NEW YORK (Reuters) - CVS Health Corp (>> CVS Health) CEO Larry Merlo said on Monday that its plan to help health insurer Anthem Inc (>> Anthem Inc) build its own pharmacy benefit management business remains in place with planning well under way, unaffected by CVS' deal to buy Anthem rival Aetna Inc (>> Aetna Inc).

Merlo was responding to a question on a conference call with Wall Street analysts, some of whom have wondered if CVS would lose the business because of the $69-billion deal announced on Sunday.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Stocks treated in this article : Aetna Inc, CVS Health, Anthem Inc