Key Pharmacy Benefits Manager Will Offer Two Expensive Cholesterol Drugs To Some Patients
Express Scripts says it will add both of the new cholesterol-lowering drugs to its list of covered drugs, but it will closely adhere to federal guidelines about who should get the medicines.
The Wall Street Journal:
Express Scripts To Cover Both New Cholesterol Drugs
The first major showdown between two new effective but expensive cholesterol-lowering drugs resulted in a draw. Express Scripts Holding Co., the big pharmacy-benefits manager, said it would include both drugs—Praluent from Regeneron Inc. and Sanofi SA and Repatha from Amgen Inc., on its national list of covered medicines. ... Insurance coverage for the two agents, known as PCSK9 inhibitors, has been an unanswered question since the drugs were approved this summer. The list price for Praluent is about $14,600 a year while Repatha is priced at $14,000. (Winslow, 10/6)
The Associated Press:
Express Scripts To Cover Pricey New Cholesterol Treatments
The decision comes as soaring drug prices draw criticism from patients, doctors and politicians, as well as insurers and employers that generally pay most of the prescription bill. Praluent and Repatha both stirred worry, in particular, because of their potential to be used by millions of patients. The biologically-engineered drugs are considered the first major advance in managing cholesterol since the introduction of statin drugs more than 20 years ago. They aim to lower bad, or LDL, cholesterol, and analysts expect them to generate billions in sales. (Murphy, 10/6)
Kaiser Health News:
Express Scripts To Cover Pricey New Cholesterol Drugs
The nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager said Tuesday it’s not going to try to bring down costs by forcing the makers of two pricey new cholesterol drugs to compete against each other, as it successfully did this year with expensive hepatitis C treatments. Instead, Express Scripts said it will control spending by aggressively managing which patients get the injectable medications. The firm also said it won some discounts from the treatments’ estimated $14,000 annual list price. (Appleby, 10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Prescription Firm Agrees To Cover Pricey New Cholesterol Drugs -- For Some
But in addition to their promise, the drugs carried a suggested price of more than $14,000 a year — 140 times more expensive than statins, the most common cholesterol-fighting medication. The pricing had drawn widespread criticism, with one study concluding the true value of the drugs is a fraction of their sticker price. The new drugs hit the market amid a fierce debate between insurers and pharmaceutical companies about the appropriate pricing of specialty drugs, which treat smaller patient populations but can come with price tags significantly higher than older medications. (Pfeifer, 10/6)
The New York Times:
Express Scripts Says It Will Cover 2 New Cholesterol Drugs
Express Scripts created a stir late last year when it decided to pay for AbbVie’s new drug to treat hepatitis C, Viekira Pak, and not for Harvoni, a competing product from Gilead Sciences. Some other health plans followed suit in choosing only one of the two drugs, forcing Gilead and AbbVie to offer bigger discounts to retain sales. Investors and cardiologists have been waiting to see whether health plans would try to force the same winner-take-all bargaining from the makers of the two new cholesterol drugs. Express Scripts, at least, will not, saying Tuesday that it had received sufficient discounts to offer both products. However, it did not indicate what it would pay for the drugs or what consumers would pay, which depends on their health plan. (Pollack, 10/6)