(Bloomberg) – America’s largest drug benefit manager is moving to take a slice of sales of one of the world’s best-selling drugs.
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Starting April 1, CVS Health Corp. will no longer offer AbbVie Inc.'s Humira to most of the millions of patients in its over-the-counter prescription plans. Instead, they will be sold cheaper knock-offs of anti-inflammatory drugs that became available last year.
CVS' Caremark division is the first major pharmacy benefits manager to announce such a transition. For AbbVie, this is a blow. AbbVie has managed to keep Humira on PBM drug lists, despite plans to add a lower-priced version alongside Humira.
Humira's sales will exceed $21 billion in 2022, making it the largest pharmaceutical product outside of the COVID-19 vaccine. Analysts predict Humira's sales will fall to about $9 billion this year due to the rise of counterfeit products known as biosimilars.
AbbVie's stock price fell as much as 4% in trading after the U.S. market closed. A company representative said formulation changes are expected and Humira will continue to be widely available.
CVS' drug plans began adding some of the first new versions from Sandoz Group AG and other rivals last year. At the same time, CVS partnered with Sandoz to co-produce a biosimilar version of Humira through a new business unit called Cordavis.
CVS says patients switching from Humira to a biosimilar will be given 60 days' notice and will receive assistance with the change. This replacement is expected to save CVS customers more than 50% compared to 2022 prices before biosimilar competition.
CVS says Humira will remain available to employers and health plans that want to maintain access to it. This change does not affect patients enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid plans.
CVS' Cordavis unit also plans to begin selling a version of Humira in partnership with AbbVie in the second quarter, but it will not be prioritized in CVS' over-the-counter drug plans.
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