Express Scripts (ESRX) Announces New Value-Based Migraine Treatment Program



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Migraines are a painful reality for 39 million Americans. A severe migraine sends a person to the United States to an emergency room every 10 seconds, contributes to 113 million lost work days each year, costs employers $ 13 billion in lost productivity and results in billions of dollars outpatient expenses, emergency room visits and hospitalizations.[i].

Recognizing the need to help patients and their plans to improve migraine management, Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) announced today the launch of its new SafeGuardRx SM Migraine care valueSM The program will begin on April 1, 2019. This program, which is the first in the industry, combines a comprehensive clinical care program to help patients achieve better results and fewer migraines, while helping promoters plans to more affordably cover the new preventative treatment available to their members.

Switch to preventive care "At the moment, most patients are taking medications to make migraine disappear.Our goal is to help migraine sufferers frequent prevent migraine from developing," said Harold Carter, PharmD, Senior Director, Product, Express Scripts. "Through clinical care provided through our new Migraine Care Value program, Express Scripts pharmacists from our Neuroscience Therapeutic Resource Center will identify patients who use a large number of acute migraine treatments and collaborate with to bring them to appropriate preventive treatment. "

Once the preventive treatment is in place, these neuroscience pharmacists will provide members with support to achieve optimal medication compliance and to help members avoid migraine triggers. For members using newer inhibitors of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), our pharmacists will guide them on how to use these injectable drugs and overcome the obstacles that prevent optimal results.

Affordable access to revolutionary treatments Clinical evidence for recently approved CGRP inhibitors has shown that these therapies are effective in reducing the frequency of migraine headaches in patients with at least four migraines per month. Although drug manufacturers have set the price of CRGP inhibitors in line with independent valuations based on the values ​​of organizations such as the Institute for Economic and Economic Review (ICER), they are much more expensive than preventive treatments. migraine currently available and therefore require careful management to ensure optimal patient treatment. the results.

Treatment with CGRP inhibitor is not mandatory for all migraine sufferers, but the Migraine Care Value program will favor Aimovig ™ (erenumab-aooe) and Emgality ™ (galcanezumab-gnlm) for patients meeting the clinical guidelines. As with any new drug on the market, some patients will feel that CGRP inhibitors do not work for them. To help minimize the high cost of these treatments for plan sponsors, Express Scripts offers a refund of early termination to the plan sponsor when a patient terminates treatment within the first 90 days.

"CGRP inhibitors can change the lives of people with frequent migraine headaches, which is why it is essential that these drugs be affordable for patients and plan sponsors," Carter said. "With our SafeGuardRx solutions, we have developed an evidence-based approach that will now help migraine sufferers to receive the best drugs and the best specialized care that will enable them to live a full and productive life while reducing costs and unnecessary expenses for our customers. "

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