Radar on Drug Benefits

Big 3 Implement Conflicting Formulary Exclusions on Biosimilars

  • Feb 10
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    Feb 10, 2022

    The Big Three PBMs — Cigna Corp.’s Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx, and CVS Health Corp.’s Caremark — once again added new drugs to their formulary exclusion lists for the 2022 plan year, but the rate of new exclusions slowed. Industry insiders tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the slowing amount of exclusions indicates the PBMs find high value in opaque, complex contracting agreements with providers, even though certain preferences in areas like insulins, specialty drugs and biosimilars defy the logic of list prices.

    According to an analysis of plan documents by Adam Fein, Ph.D., CEO of the Drug Channels Institute, Caremark now excludes 433 products from its formularies, Express Scripts excludes 485 and OptumRx excludes 492. Each amount sets a record number of exclusions for each company.

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    • Peter Johnson

    Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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Biosimilars
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PBMs/Pharmacy Benefit Managers
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