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Alan Franciscus

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HCV Advocate



Showing posts with label Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Show all posts

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Harvard Pilgrim negotiates discount on pricey hepatitis drug

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has become the first regional health insurer to negotiate a discount on a costly new hepatitis C drug regimen that cures more than 90 percent of people with the virus but inflicts steep financial losses on payers.

Under a one-year contract with Gilead Sciences Inc., maker of the two-drug Harvoni treatment for the liver-ravaging disease, Wellesley-based Harvard Pilgrim expects to save about $10 million on reimbursements to doctors who treat hepatitis C patients. The insurer didn’t disclose how much it will pay for the drug after a rebate from Gilead.

Harvard Pilgrim followed the lead of national pharmacy benefit managers such as CVS/Caremark and Express Scripts, which buy prescription drugs in bulk. Taking advantage of a rival hepatitis C drug combination from AbbVie Inc., those companies recently bargained with both drug makers to secure rebates.

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