Battle Over Who Gets $15,000 Heart Drug Focuses on Guidelines
Sky-High Drug Prices Becoming More Normal
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The fight is intensifying over which patients will get an almost $15,000-a-year cholesterol drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi, with CVS Health Corp. calling for new treatment guidelines to make it clearer who should qualify.
In a commentary published online Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, three top medical officials from CVS are urging cardiologists to reconsider cholesterol-lowering guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. They say that setting clear cholesterol levels for patients to reach would help doctors determine who needs the injectable drug and others like it, known as PCSK9 inhibitors.