Radar on Drug Benefits
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Study: With High Prices, Rebate Revenue Is Growing for PBMs
New research published in JAMA Health Forum found that rebate revenue for PBMs grew between 2015 and 2019 — but that growing rebate revenue was not passed on to patients.
The research letter’s authors measured both prerebate and postrebate drug costs taken from medical loss ratio (MLR) filings made by plans to CMS. The research sample includes commercial insurance filings from small group, individual and large group health plans across “approximately 2,200 unique health plans” covering 70 million lives.
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Most Payers Will Review Humira Biosimilars as They Come
Starting next year, biosimilars are expected to generate significant pharmacy cost savings for patients and payers, led by multiple biosimilars of AbbVie Inc.’s blockbuster immunosuppressive drug Humira (adalimumab). With as many as eight Humira competitors expected to launch in 2023, most payers report they will evaluate the biosimilars as they come to market over the course of the year, rather than waiting until all are available before making coverage decisions. And half of payers may adjust Humira contracting in 2022, prior to the biosimilars’ launches.
That’s according to findings from Zitter Insights, which like AIS Health is a division of MMIT. Steve Callahan, a senior manager of market research at MMIT, described Zitter’s market research findings on the Humira biosimilars during an April 5 webinar.
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Demand for Medication Abortion May Rise if Roe Falls
The use of medication abortion — which involves two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol — has grown significantly since its approval and now accounts for 54% of all pregnancy terminations before nine weeks of gestation in the U.S. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, medication abortion usage is likely to increase as patients in states that ban the procedure are likely to attempt to obtain courses of medication abortion from states that allow it. Only 18 states and the District of Columbia allow both advanced practice clinicians and medical doctors to dispense abortion pills. Six states have passed laws banning any use of telehealth for medication abortion, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. Insurance coverage for both surgical and medical abortion is heavily regulated across the nation. A 2019 study from the Government Accountability Office found that 14 states’ Medicaid programs do not cover mifepristone even in the cases of rape, incest and life endangerment.
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News Briefs: UnitedHealthcare to Restrict Aduhelm Access
UnitedHealthcare will restrict access to Aduhelm (aducanumab) across all of its books of business, arguing that “Aduhelm is unproven and not medically necessary for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease due to insufficient evidence of efficacy,” according to company documents obtained by Stat News. The decision from the insurance branch of UnitedHealth Group, the largest private carrier in the country, follows a controversial move by CMS to restrict access to the drug mainly to patients who are participating in clinical trials. In a National Coverage Determination, CMS said the Medicare program will cover Biogen Inc.’s Aduhelm only for patients enrolled in randomized, controlled clinical trials conducted either through the FDA or the National Institutes of Health. For Medicare patients to be prescribed Aduhelm, they also must have a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease or mild dementia with a confirmed presence of plaque on the brain.
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PBM Critics Increasingly Take Their Grievances to Court
As scrutiny on PBMs continues, various stakeholders are turning to the legal system to challenge the business practices of major firms.
Centene Corp. has been the target of the most litigation, having now reached settlements with nine state attorneys general over allegations that its PBM subsidiary Envolve overcharged those states’ Medicaid programs for prescription drugs, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has set aside $1.25 billion to fund those settlements and potential future lawsuits, and it is in the process of restructuring its PBM holdings.
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