Express Scripts Takes Aim at Valeant Over Cost of Diabetes Drug

The war on high pharmaceutical prices continues, with PBM Express Scripts taking aim at what it calls an excessive price jump for Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ diabetes drug Glumetza.

“To protect our clients and wasteful, unnecessary drug spend, Express Scripts will exclude Glumetza from our 2016 National Preferred Formulary, pending FDA approval of the generic equivalent,” the PBM said in a blog post. The move came ahead of the Feb.  1 launch of a generic equivalent of Glumetza, the company said.

According to the PBM, Valeant raised prices on more than 60 of its drugs by at least 50 percent in 2014. Glumetza has seen a staggering price hike — 800 percent in 2015 — Express Scripts says.

The PBM points to recent agreements Walgreens and Valeant signed with retail pharmacies that “potentially encourage the pharmacies to bypass the more affordable generic metformin and instead dispense branded Glumetza at a higher cost.”

Valeant takes issue with the statement, pointing out that under the agreement, Walgreens will offer branded products at the generic price.  That agreement, Valeant says, covers 30 branded products and is expected to start in the middle of the year. Glumetza is named as one of the products covered under the agreement.

Further, as Valeant spokeswoman Laurie Little points out, Express Scripts’ move to exclude a branded product isn’t necessarily unusual.  “Drug prices are set in a very dynamic marketplace, and this development is another example of how the market works to influence price.”