Payers May Be Slow to Embrace Nexletol as Next Best Step After Statins

At the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., presented data from a highly anticipated clinical trial that shows its cholesterol-lowering drug Nexletol (bempedoic acid) can reduce the risk for heart attack, stroke and other serious cardiac events. Company executives say the results position bempedoic acid as the logical next step for patients who can’t or won’t tolerate statins. Yet some pharmacy benefits experts say it may be a while before the therapy makes a major dent in the market.  

“If any impact is seen, it may be slow as the results of the studies were recently released over the weekend,” Mesfin Tegenu, chairman and CEO of RxParadigm, Inc., tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT. “In theory, there would be an increase in uptake for patients with an established atherosclerotic vascular disease and in those at high risk for vascular disease who are unable or unwilling to take statins,” he adds. “However, coverage may continue to be slow until the data is fully analyzed.”