http://ift.tt/1Bovogp
(Reuters) - CVS Health Corp aims to control costs for a class of new cholesterol-fighting drugs by instituting strict prior authorization and other controls, according to the company, which negotiates drug prices for 65 million people through its pharmacy benefit manager unit.
Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer at CVS, warned in a blog post this week that the new injectable cholesterol treatments, called PCSK9 inhibitors, could be prescribed for as many as 15 million Americans, at an annual cost of $7,000 to $12,000 per patient.
CVS aims to limit initial utilization of the new drugs, which would be used for a lifetime. "We think the overall prevalence of therapy with this can be kept relatively low if there is appropriate utilization management put in place," he told Reuters on Wednesday.
He noted that such restrictions helped limit spending on Gilead Sciences Inc's $1,000 hepatitis C pill after it was launched in late 2013.
CVS, and other large payers like Express Scripts Holding Co, campaigned throughout 2014 against the high price of Gilead's drug. Competition emerged late last year when regulators approved a new hepatitis C treatment from AbbVie Inc and Gilead recently acknowledged it is discounting its prices by nearly 50 percent to secure market share.
Brennan expects a similar outcome for PCSK9 drugs. Amgen Inc and a partnership of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA have each filed for U.S. regulatory approval of rival PCSK9 inhibitors. Pfizer Inc is also developing a drug in the same class.
"We expect there will be competition between various similar medications when they come out," Brennan said.
None of the PCSK9 drugs have been approved, and their usage labels are unknown, but Brennan said they will likely be approved for patients who are genetically prone to extreme high cholesterol and people whose cholesterol is not adequately controlled with statins, an older class of pills. He said approval is also being sought for use of PCSK9 inhibitors in a larger population of people who cannot tolerate statins.
"We will require laboratory testing to assure that these are appropriate medications for the patient," he said. Diagnostics would include genetic testing, measuring levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol in the blood and testing people who cannot tolerate statins for muscle and liver enzymes to understand whether that intolerance is based on biochemical problems caused by existing medications.
He said that, over time, if studies can demonstrate that the new drugs reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, usage could be widened.
(Reuters) - CVS Health Corp aims to control costs for a class of new cholesterol-fighting drugs by instituting strict prior authorization and other controls, according to the company, which negotiates drug prices for 65 million people through its pharmacy benefit manager unit.
Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer at CVS, warned in a blog post this week that the new injectable cholesterol treatments, called PCSK9 inhibitors, could be prescribed for as many as 15 million Americans, at an annual cost of $7,000 to $12,000 per patient.
CVS aims to limit initial utilization of the new drugs, which would be used for a lifetime. "We think the overall prevalence of therapy with this can be kept relatively low if there is appropriate utilization management put in place," he told Reuters on Wednesday.
He noted that such restrictions helped limit spending on Gilead Sciences Inc's $1,000 hepatitis C pill after it was launched in late 2013.
CVS, and other large payers like Express Scripts Holding Co, campaigned throughout 2014 against the high price of Gilead's drug. Competition emerged late last year when regulators approved a new hepatitis C treatment from AbbVie Inc and Gilead recently acknowledged it is discounting its prices by nearly 50 percent to secure market share.
Brennan expects a similar outcome for PCSK9 drugs. Amgen Inc and a partnership of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA have each filed for U.S. regulatory approval of rival PCSK9 inhibitors. Pfizer Inc is also developing a drug in the same class.
"We expect there will be competition between various similar medications when they come out," Brennan said.
None of the PCSK9 drugs have been approved, and their usage labels are unknown, but Brennan said they will likely be approved for patients who are genetically prone to extreme high cholesterol and people whose cholesterol is not adequately controlled with statins, an older class of pills. He said approval is also being sought for use of PCSK9 inhibitors in a larger population of people who cannot tolerate statins.
"We will require laboratory testing to assure that these are appropriate medications for the patient," he said. Diagnostics would include genetic testing, measuring levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol in the blood and testing people who cannot tolerate statins for muscle and liver enzymes to understand whether that intolerance is based on biochemical problems caused by existing medications.
He said that, over time, if studies can demonstrate that the new drugs reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, usage could be widened.
PCSK9 getting some flak
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire