Cost Savings More Important for Payer Committees than Clinical Concerns

With rising prescription drug prices challenging payers, how are their key decision makers adjusting their approach to recommending coverage for medicines?

A new survey finds that pharmacy and therapeutic committees, whose job it is to assess the clinical effectiveness of new drugs, view potential cost savings as the most important factor when recommending formulary placement. A formulary is a list of drugs that receive preferred coverage.

On a scale of one to six, potential cost savings of a drug ranked highest, at 3.8. This priority edged out the overall safety and efficacy of a drug relative to directly comparable medicines, at 3.7, according to the survey of P&T committees conducted by Barclays Bank analysts.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1H1vYkb