Oct 31 (Reuters) - Cigna ( CI ) beat Wall Street

estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday, as its unit that

runs the pharmacy benefit management business added new clients

and saw strong demand for close copies of a blockbuster

arthritis drug.

The conglomerate started distributing close copies of

AbbVie's ( ABBV ) arthritis drug, Humira, in June, at no

out-of-pocket cost to patients using its specialty pharmacy

Accredo.

Cigna ( CI ) expects the biosimilar opportunity to go beyond Humira

and sees an additional $100 billion of annual specialty drug

spend to be subject to biosimilar and generic competition in the

U.S. by 2030.

Pharmacy benefit managers are companies that handle

prescription drug benefits for health insurance companies, large

employers and Medicare prescription drug plans - a group often

referred to as payers.

Total adjusted revenue at the Evernorth healthcare services

unit rose 36% to $52.63 billion.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company posted adjusted

profit of $7.51 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $7.20

per share.