STAT+: Pharmalittle: Amgen pricing for Humira biosimilar may not help patients; pharma wins court battle over drug discount program
Hello, everyone, and how are you this morning? We are just fine, thank you, although we could do without the gloomy skies hovering over the Pharmalot campus. Nonetheless, our spirits remain sunny. After all, as the Morning Mayor taught us: “Every new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.” So while you tug on the ribbon, we will quaff some cups of stimulation to get the day under way. Our choice today is bananas Foster. As always, you are welcome to join us. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest to get you going. Hope your day goes well, and do stay in touch. …
Underscoring the opaque and confusing nature of pharmaceutical pricing, Amgen announced long-awaited pricing for its biosimilar version of Humira – the world’s best-selling medicine – and the numbers suggest the biggest winners may be health insurers and others in the supply chain, but not patients, STAT explains. Amgen will offer its medication, called Amjevita, at two different discounts – 5% and 55% – off the roughly $80,000 wholesale, or list, price. The maneuver reflects behind-the-scenes negotiations between pharmaceutical companies and the pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, that create formularies, or lists of medicines for which insurance coverage is provided.
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