Radar on Drug Benefits

Prime Therapeutics LLC is launching a new kind of shopping experience for members of participating Blue Cross Blue Shield plans called MedsYourWay, and its first offering includes a home delivery option through Amazon Pharmacy.

Through the Amazon Pharmacy partnership, MedsYourWay gives consumers “simplified sign-up, real-time medication price displays and an integrated MedsYourWay prescription discount card administered by Inside Rx1,” according to a press release.

With Congress continuing to debate a measure that would allow the Medicare program to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll has found that “large majorities” of U.S. adults support such a move, “and this support holds steady even after the public is provided the arguments being presented by parties on both sides of the legislative debate.”

But the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is striking back, with a spokesperson sending an email to reporters on Oct. 12 that accuses KFF of “joining the partisan fray and political advocacy groups who are trying desperately to build congressional support for government price-setting.”

CMS, in its recent release of 2022 star ratings for private Medicare plans, reported that the percentage of members in plans rated 4 stars and above rose for both Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans and stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs).

MA-PD plans’ performance is getting the most buzz — perhaps because an eye-popping 90% of current enrollees are in plans that will be rated 4 stars or higher in 2022, up from 77% of MA-PD enrollees in 2021. Still, PDPs’ year-over-year percentage increase of members in highly rated plans is also notable.

Merck & Co. has made waves by claiming one of its antiviral drugs, molnupiravir, could reduce hospitalizations for COVID-19 by roughly half — as has the company’s announced plans to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA for the drug.

Experts are optimistic that the drug could be the first of several new therapeutics and prophylactics for COVID-19 — but caution that molnupiravir may not be right for every patient, requires scaled-up production and could be more costly in the commercial market than many expect.