Cigna To Get Price Discounts If Drugs Don’t Perform As Well As Expected
But experts say, although value-based deals have increased in number, they remain limited in scope and may not put a huge dent in drug spending.
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Insurers Push To Tie Drug Prices To Outcomes
Health insurer Cigna Corp. will get extra price discounts from drugmakers if new cholesterol medications don’t help patients as much as expected, a significant step in a broader push to tie the cost of drugs to how well they work. Such “value-based” deals are becoming more common as rising costs spur customers to demand assurances they are getting what they pay for. U.S. prescription spending rose 12% to nearly $425 billion in 2015, following a 13% increase in 2014, according to research firm IMS Health. Cigna is set to announce on Wednesday that it is the first insurer to reach value-based contracts for an entire new class of cholesterol drugs: Praluent, which is co-marketed by Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Amgen Inc.’s Repatha are the only two cholesterol-lowering drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors currently on the U.S. market. (Loftus and Wilde Mathews, 5/11)