Express Scripts Holding Co. said it’s starting a new program designed to respond rapidly to price spikes on old drugs, making it easier to steer patients to cheaper alternatives when a medicine unexpectedly soars in price.
The drug benefit manager’s new “market events” program, which will be optional for Express Scripts’ employer and health-insurer clients, is a response to big price increases on old treatments at specialty drugmakers like Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Turing Pharmaceuticals AG.
