Novel Therapies Take Center Stage in Optum Rx Drug Pipeline Report

Oct 27
Oct 27, 2022

In its latest report highlighting notable drugs nearing FDA approval, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx PBM singles out two therapies designated as orphan drugs and one that has been granted priority review. Experts tell AIS Health that payers deciding how to cover these drugs will undoubtedly have to weigh factors such as a high unmet need for treatment, the durability of patients’ response to the therapy, and potentially high price tags.

For example, regarding the only non-orphan drug included in the report, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s pegcetacoplan, there are currently no other approved treatments for the condition it’s targeting, “so that will have an impact on how payers approach coverage,” says Bill Dreitlein, senior director of Pipeline & Drug Surveillance at Optum Rx.
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Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.