Gilead can't help but fight back: CVS supplies Gilead hepatitis C drugs exclusively

Source: e-medicine Facebook 2015-1-7 CVS said that unless medical treatment requires special circumstances or prior authorization, the all oral hepatitis C drug combination viekira Pak, which was just approved by gbvie at the end of last year, will be excluded from the company's formulary However, patients who have started taking viekira Pak will be allowed to continue their treatment This is Gillette's response to the exclusive supply agreement reached between Aberdeen and express script at the end of last year Only three days after the approval of the two exclusivity agreements by the FDA, viekira Pak reached an agreement on December 22 between express scripts, the largest pharmacy welfare management company in the United States, and abercrombie Since January 1 this year, patients with hepatitis C, the most common type of hepatitis C, genotype 1, have only provided Abercrombie's drug, viekira Pak In exchange, Aberdeen will offer express scripts an undisclosed special discount (rumored to be as high as 40%) Express scripts has been one of the most fierce critics of the high pricing of Gilead's hepatitis C drugs This time, similarly, CVS did not disclose the specific discount that Gilead gave the company for hepatitis C drugs According to David freundel, a spokesman for Aberdeen, the company believes that viekira Pak has a broad market and that the company's years of partnership with express scripts ensures that all patients with hepatitis C, not just critically ill patients, have access to drugs Christine K Cramer, a spokeswoman for CVs, said, "our goal is to provide the lowest net cost solution for all genotypes of hepatitis C patients." she said the decision was based on a clinical evaluation of different hepatitis C treatment options and costs The CVS policy will take effect on January 7 and will apply to all genotypes of hepatitis C patients The policy will apply to patients who benefit from Medicare and Medicaid through CVs, as well as those who purchase a commercial health insurance plan In the United States, the cost of 12 week standard treatment with sovaldi and harvoni was $84000 and $94500 per patient, respectively In contrast, the cost of iberville's viekira Pak is $83319 per patient According to Robyn karnauskas, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, express scripts currently account for 30% - 33% of the U.S pharmacy benefit management market, with CVs accounting for 27% - 30% It's not over The battle between Gillette and Aberdeen over the price of hepatitis C drugs is not over The move was a counterattack to Gillette's negative impact on him After the announcement of the Alberto express script deal at the end of December, there were concerns that Gillette's market share would be threatened, and the company's share price fell 13% After the announcement of the cooperation with CVs on January 5, investors began to regain confidence Gilead's share price rose 2% on that day, while Alberto's fell 1.9% Sovaldi, which was approved by FDA in late 2013, completely dominated the hepatitis C treatment market in 2014 The sales volume of this $1000 drug in the first three quarters of last year reached $8.55 billion It is considered to be the most successful new drug on the market, but it has also been questioned and criticized by health officials and insurance companies in various countries In the United States, Medicaid is restricted in many states because of the cost Viekira Pak, which was approved on December 19 last year, is considered to be as effective as Gilead's in the treatment of type 1 hepatitis C, but it needs to take four pills at a time, which is not as convenient as Gilead's, and patients in serious condition need to be treated for 24 weeks instead of the usual 12 weeks In contrast, at the end of October last year, Gilead's newly approved upgraded version of sovaldi - the compound harvoni of sovaldi and ledipasvir only needs to take one tablet, and some patients only need 8 weeks to cure The question now is, how much share of the hepatitis C market will Gillette and Aberdeen each get? According to RBC Capital Markets, the global sales of new hepatitis C drugs with more than 90% cure rate and lower side effects in 2014 have exceeded US $13 billion, which is expected to grow 42% to US $18.5 billion this year Michael Yee, an analyst at the investment bank, predicted that Aberdeen is expected to get 15% of the hepatitis C market, which should not be affected by Gillette's agreement with CVs