5/18/2023 0 Comments Humira copay cardThe rising costs, he said, are due less to a rising number of patients who need the products and “much more because of the increase in the prices of these medications.” Glen Stettin, the chief innovation officer at Express Scripts. “This is a category of drugs that are used for crippling, very painful conditions, yet they don’t affect huge numbers of people,” said Dr. The drugs account for nearly 10 percent of all drug spending among its members in the United States, the company says - costing an estimated $7.5 billion - even though fewer than 1 percent of its members use them. But Express Scripts said that the move was necessary to contain costs. If an approved drug does not work, patients will have to take extra steps to get a different drug. The approach has already set off some complaints among patients, who rely on regular injections of the drugs to keep painful and uncomfortable symptoms in check. The idea is that the new limits will force drug companies to lower their prices, saving insurers and employers money. On Thursday, Express Scripts, the nation’s largest drug benefits manager, changed its recommendations to insurers and employers, saying they should cover fewer drugs for many inflammatory conditions. Now, one of the most powerful forces on the side of drug payers is pushing back. In recent years, the prices of the medications have doubled, making them the costliest drug class in the country by some calculations. Americans have expressed outrage at drug companies for raising prices on products like EpiPen, the severe allergy treatment needed by thousands of children, and Daraprim, a rarely used but essential drug to treat a parasitic infection.īut insurers and employers - who pay the bulk of the cost for drugs - say that a bigger financial shock has come from a largely overlooked source: expensive anti-inflammatory medications like Humira and Enbrel, drugs taken by millions of people for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |