Hep C Discussion Forum

This was in the Washington Post today. I guess those of us who have benefited from the new medications are part of the 1 percenters. Those that haven't been fortunate enough to gain access to these "pricey specialty drugs" can blame it on "management tools".

Prescription drugs spending jumped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2003, according to the nations largest pharmacy benefits manager. Express Scripts Holding Co. said Tuesday that the jump was fueled in part by pricey specialty drugs that accounted for more than 31 cents of every dollar spent on prescriptions even though they represented only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions filled [...] Express Scripts and other prescription bill payers have been negotiating preferred treatment agreements with some specialty drugmakers in an attempt to gain leverage over the cost of the drugs. Some also have started using management tools like limiting use of drugs like Sovaldi to the most serious forms of hepatitis C  (Emphasis added).

To read the full article, go to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/report-specialty-drugs-drive-prescription-spending-jump/2015/03/10/0ad98ca8-c71b-11e4-bea5-b893e7ac3fb3_story.html