CVS chooses Amgen's new cholesterol drug over competitor
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
U.S. drug benefit manager CVS Health said on Monday that it would add Amgen Inc.'s Repatha cholesterol treatment to its list of covered drugs for private plans over a competing treatment from Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
The two competing treatments, which can slash "bad" LDL cholesterol by more than 60 percent, were approved this summer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and belong to a new class of medicines called PCSK9 inhibitors.
Their pricetags have drawn criticism at a time when the national focus has turned to increases in costs of healthcare, and in particular, drugs for consumers. So far, use of the drugs has been held back by strict use policies set by pharmacy benefit managers.
The FDA approved Repatha and Praluent, made by Regeneron and Sanofi, for patients with hereditary forms of high cholesterol and those with cardiovascular disease who require additional cholesterol lowering.
Praluent costs $14,600 for a year of treatment and Amgen set an annual price of $14,100 for its Repatha. The companies were expected to offer rebates and discounts that would bring it down into the mid $12,000 range.
These new cholesterol drugs are far more costly than generic statins, which are able to control cholesterol levels in most people.
Drug benefit managers like CVS and Express Scripts have been closely watching use of these drugs, concerned about potential costs to the corporate employers and insurers who pay for their members' drugs.
CVS said that its pharmacy and therapeutics committee of external experts, including clinical pharmacists and physicians, evaluated the competing drugs and viewed them as therapeutically equivalent.
"We have determined that choosing a single PCSK9 inhibitor for our commercial formularies allows us to get the best price possible for clients," Dr. Troyen Brennan, Chief Medical Officer of CVS Health, said in a press release. "We anticipate that for most members with high cholesterol, statins will remain the standard of care."
Statins are used by millions of Americans who have high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
The drugs are stronger than traditional cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, such as Pfizer Inc's Lipitor. But it is not yet known whether their cholesterol-lowering power will translate into a reduced number of heart attacks.
Express Scripts in October said it had struck a deal to cover both drugs and would not exclude one from its list of covered drugs, a tactic it does use with other competing treatments.
reuters.com
