CVS: ‘all bets are off’ for new cholesterol drug contracts
CVS Health Corp, the No 2 manager of drug benefit plans for U.S. employers and insurers, will wait until a second new cholesterol-lowering drug is approved by regulators before negotiating for price discounts or adding either of the much pricer new drugs to its list of covered medications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA’s Praluent, which works by blocking a protein called PCSK9 that helps “bad” LDL cholesterol stay in the bloodstream. An FDA decision on a second PCSK9 inhibitor, Amgen Inc’s Repatha, is expected later this month.