- Sustainability
- DE&I
- Pandemic
- Finance
- Legal
- Technology
- Regulatory
- Global
- Pricing
- Strategy
- R&D/Clinical Trials
- Opinion
- Executive Roundtable
- Sales & Marketing
- Executive Profiles
- Leadership
- Market Access
- Patient Engagement
- Supply Chain
- Industry Trends
Tiered Pharmacy Benefit Plans on the Rise
Pharmaceutical Executive
In an effort to cope with soaring healthcare costs, more employers are establishing three-tier prescription drug benefit plans for workers.
In an effort to cope with soaring healthcare costs, more employers are establishing three-tier prescription drug benefit plans for workers. This year, almost 60 percent of workers with health insurance have pharmacy coverage that sets higher cost-sharing formulas for non-preferred medicines, compared with preferred products or generics. That figure is up considerably from the 36 percent of three-tiered plans in 2001 and is double the 29 percent rate in 2000. (See "More Workers Pay More.") The cost of pharmaceuticals within these tiers is also higher: brand-name therapies for which generic substitutes are available now cost consumers an average $26 co-pay per prescription, up from $20 in 2001, according to an annual survey of employer benefit plans conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET). A total of 85 percent of workers now are in either two- or three-tiered plans, as more employers take steps to keep prescription drug costs under control.
More Workers Pay More
Key Findings of the NIAGARA and HIMALAYA Trials
November 8th 2024In this episode of the Pharmaceutical Executive podcast, Shubh Goel, head of immuno-oncology, gastrointestinal tumors, US oncology business unit, AstraZeneca, discusses the findings of the NIAGARA trial in bladder cancer and the significance of the five-year overall survival data from the HIMALAYA trial, particularly the long-term efficacy of the STRIDE regimen for unresectable liver cancer.
Fake Weight Loss Drugs: Growing Threat to Consumer Health
October 25th 2024In this episode of the Pharmaceutical Executive podcast, UpScriptHealth's Peter Ax, Founder and CEO, and George Jones, Chief Operations Officer, discuss the issue of counterfeit weight loss drugs, the potential health risks associated with them, increasing access to legitimate weight loss medications and more.
