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Aetna and Gilead agree to discount pricing for hepatitis C drugs
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Jan 16 2015
http://news.aetna.com/news-releases/aetna-gilead-agree-discount-pricing-hepatitis-c-drugs/
Aetna has reached an agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc. that will result in lower pricing for the hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi for Aetna customers.
The agreement, effective immediately, follows a comprehensive clinical review of current FDA- approved therapies for hepatitis C. Harvoni and Sovaldi are clinically effective treatments for hepatitis C. Based on their efficiency and cost compared to other current hepatitis C treatments, Harvoni and Sovaldi will now be preferred therapies for Aetna Commercial customers.
Harvoni and Sovaldi, like all treatments for hepatitis C, require precertification.
While this agreement will lower costs for these hepatitis C treatments, updates to our financial projections, if any, would be further discussed when we release our fourth quarter 2014 earnings, currently scheduled for February 3, 2015. Those projections will incorporate our latest outlook across our various businesses.
We continue to evaluate the prescription drug products available to treat hepatitis C to ensure that all customers have access to quality treatments.
These medications will be covered in accordance with Aetna's clinical policy.
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U.S. health regulators late last month approved Viekira Pak from AbbVie Inc, the first competitor to Gilead's drugs. Within a few days, Express Scripts, the largest U.S. pharmacy benefits manager, dropped coverage of Gilead's treatments in most cases in favor of the AbbVie therapy, citing a substantial discount.
Since Express Scripts' move, insurers have pressed both AbbVie and Gilead for discounts on their hepatitis C treatments to keep them on reimbursement lists. CVS Health, Anthem and Humana chose Gilead drugs as their preferred treatment, while pharmacy benefits company Prime Therapeutics kept both on its list.
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Aetna's deal affects customers who get their health care coverage from an employer or a health care exchange, or just over 10.8 million people, according to a company spokeswoman.
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The pushback from payers comes as much of the pharmaceutical industry is focused on developing ultra-expensive medicines - some costing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year - for various cancers, hepatitis C and many diseases that are rare individually, but as a group affect tens of millions of Americans.
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