On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration approved Repatha, the second drug in a large class of powerful cholesterol lowering medicines. Repatha is made by Amgen, and is indicated to only be used by those with heart disease and cannot lower their cholesterol levels with statins and other therapies. This new drug, Repatha, will cost those who use it $14,100 a year.
HIGH PRICE OF REPATHA CHOLESTORAL INHIBITOR CAUSED COMMOTION AMONG DRUG COMPANIES
This high price tag has caused quite a commotion among some of the other drug companies in the industry. Express Scripts Holding Co., one of the country’s largest manager of prescription drug benefits, say that up to 10 million people are affected by extremely high levels of cholesterol. According to them, this new class of drugs to treat them has the potential to grow over the next few years to become the costliest drug therapies that the country has ever seen.
INDUSTRY ANALYSTS PREDICT THAT THE PRICE OF REPATHA WILL DROP
Industry analysts expect that with the price of Repatha will drop once rebates and other discounts are taken into account. Amgen, the company that manufactures Repatha, acknowledged the concerns about the drug’s cost. They said that they will work with the payers to provide innovative pricing programs that will make it easier to get Repatha.
This is because Amgen and Regeneron have made it clear that their intentions are to work with the people who need these drugs to manage the costs. There are currently about 11 million Americans who could benefit from this new class of drugs being approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
As of now, health insurers and other pharmacy-benefit managers will probably require both doctors and patients to exhaust other options first or get additional lab tests before getting a prescription for Repatha. Repatha is an injectable drug that is administered every two weeks. Repatha works by blocking a protein that interferes with the liver’s ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. In July, the FDA approved another drug called Praulent, which is another injectable drug in the same class of medication as Repatha.
REPATHA AND PRAULENT ARE A PART OF THE PDCK9 CHOLESTORAL INHIBITOR CLASS
The new drugs in this class are called PDCK9 inhibitors have lowered the levels of LDL, the more dangerous form of cholesterol, by anywhere between 54 to 77 percent. These levels have lowered in people who are already taking other cholesterol lowering drugs. Some of the patients in the clinical trials have even seen their LDL levels drop into the single digits.
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New FDA Approved Cholesterol Drug Has $14k Price Tag
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