Lower $1,000 Pill Price? We'd Love It, Says Express Scripts

  • Gilead, Express Scripts get in spat over drug costs, rebates
  • Pharmacy manager sends letter to Gilead asking for price cut
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More than two years after Express Scripts Holding Co. helped kick off a debate over U.S. pharmaceutical costs by starting a price war over Gilead Sciences Inc.’s expensive hepatitis C pills, the companies are fighting again.

Last week, a senior Gilead executive said that pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts profit from high drug prices because it lets them take a bigger slice of the discounts they negotiate for clients. PBMs wouldn’t even let drugmakers cut prices if they asked, said the executive.