Besides specialty pharmaceutical pricing, the cost of compounded drugs is highlighted
For the past two years, Express Scripts has gone well beyond its traditional role in winning rebates from pharma manufacturers and actively managing drug regimens for the patients whose drug-benefit plans it oversees: In 2013 it announced that 48 branded drugs would be on a “formulary exclusion list” for cases where a roughly equivalent generic or lower-cost branded drug was available. Over much of last year it agitated very publicly for a lower cost for Gilead Sciences’ hepatitis C cure, Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), and at the end of the year said it would provide for the newly approved competitor to Sovaldi, AbbVie’s Viekira pack of three drugs in combination--and exclude Sovaldi and Harvoni, the Gilead products. (While the list price of both drugs is quite close, Express Scripts negotiated a more substantial discount from AbbVie, according to press reports.) more
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