CVS Chooses New Cholesterol Drug for Caremark

CVS Health Corp. said Monday that Amgen Inc.'s Repatha will be the only drug of a new class of cholesterol-lowering injections in its Caremark pharmacy-benefits manager.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Repatha and rival drug Praluent, developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi SA, as a new way to treat high cholesterol.

The new class of drugs, which are known as PCSK9 inhibitors, has drawn attention for their potential to combat heart disease but also for their potential high costs to the health care system. Repatha costs about $14,100 a year and Praluent costs about $14,600.

Amgen estimates that some 11 million people in the U.S. can't lower their so-called bad cholesterol, LDL, to healthy levels using statin pills like Lipitor. Pharmacy-benefit managers are frequently able to get large discounts off the list-prices of drugs, especially when agreeing to exclusivity or when similar drugs are produced by more than one company.

"We have determined that choosing a single PCSK9 inhibitor for our commercial formularies allows us to get the best price possible for clients and preserves our commitment to deliver the best care available," Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan said.

The FDA approved Repatha to be taken with statin drugs for patients with a hereditary condition called familial hypercholesterolemia or with coronary artery disease that requires additional lowering of cholesterol. While the new class of drugs do reduce cholesterol, studies haven't yet proven that the new class of drugs reduces cardiac disease, too.

The new self-injectable drugs work by blocking PCSK9, a protein that degrades the receptors on liver cells that grab LDL from the blood to clean it from the body.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 23, 2015 08:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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