Otezla (apremilast) is available in the U.S. for the treatment of pediatric patients 6 to 17 years of age and weighing at least 20kg with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for phototherapy or systemic therapy, Amgen Inc. said Aug. 20. The FDA approved the agent for that use on April 25 while also registering an additional packaging facility to support new packaging configurations for the pediatric population.

Optum Rx recently revealed that Optum Health Solution’s new biosimilars-focused, private-label subsidiary will join the other two big PBMs’ similar offerings. On Jan. 1, 2025, two Nuvaila-labeled biosimilars will be added to three of its commercial formularies — and for a $0 copay.

Amgen Inc.’s Wezlana (ustekinumab-auub), an interchangeable biosimilar of Stelara (ustekinumab) from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, will be added to Optum Rx’s commercial formulary on Jan. 1, 2025, the PBM revealed. The agent will be provided as a private-label product from Nuvaila — known as Wezlana for Nuvaila — and will be available in both high-wholesale acquisition cost and low-WAC versions.

The human interleukin-12 and -23 antagonist has approval for all of Stelara’s indications and is available in both subcutaneous and intravenous formulations. It also is latex-free, while Stelara contains a derivative of latex.

In the race between the largest PBMs to embrace — and monetize — biosimilars, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx has quietly been making moves to counter its competitors’ headline-grabbing announcements. Specifically, Optum Rx next year will make Humira and Stelara biosimilars available through its new private-label drug distributor, Nuvaila, and change how its formularies treat the two drugs — echoing similar moves by CVS Health Corp. and The Cigna Group.

David Cordani, CEO of The Cigna Group, made it clear during a Sept. 5 presentation at the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Conference that the firm doesn’t view the elevated medical costs facing health insurers this year as a threat to its diversified portfolio.

Cigna Healthcare, the firm’s health insurance business, in the “recent timeframe” has been able to deliver “good, predictable” medical loss ratios (MLRs), Cordani said, referring to a closely watched metric that shows the percentage of premiums spent on medical claims.

From 2021 to 2023, the median share of health care dollars that large employers spent on pharmacy costs rose from 21% to 27%, according to the Business Group on Health’s 2025 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey. The survey also found that 56% of responding employers identified GLP-1s — which treat Type 2 diabetes, obesity and other indications — as driving health care costs to a “great extent” or “very great extent,” making it the top-cited trend driver. The next most cited cost driver was “high-cost therapies.” And when listing their top pharmacy benefit-related concerns, employers put “appropriate use and/or long-term cost implications of GLP-1s and other newer weight management medications” at the top of their list, with 70% and 20%, respectively, saying they were very concerned or concerned about that issue.

With policymakers and industry stakeholders increasingly focused on the cost savings opportunities tied to biosimilars, a new Health Affairs study sheds light on some of the factors that influence uptake of these near-copies of pricey biologic medications.

Among almost 200,000 commercial and Medicare Advantage enrollees who newly initiated one of seven biologic drugs with available biosimilar versions — filgrastim, bevacizumab, epoetin alfa, trastuzumab, pegfilgrastim, infliximab and rituximab — the share of people initiating a biosimilar increased from 1% in 2013 to 34% in 2022. Patients who were younger than 18 years were less likely to initiate a biosimilar than other age groups. Meanwhile, enrollees in commercial high-deductible health plans were more likely to use a biosimilar, compared with those in MA plans.

With policymakers and industry stakeholders increasingly focused on the cost savings opportunities tied to biosimilars, a new Health Affairs study sheds light on some of the factors that influence uptake of these near-copies of pricey biologic medications.

Among almost 200,000 commercial and Medicare Advantage enrollees who newly initiated one of seven biologic drugs with available biosimilar versions — filgrastim, bevacizumab, epoetin alfa, trastuzumab, pegfilgrastim, infliximab and rituximab — the share of people initiating a biosimilar increased from 1% in 2013 to 34% in 2022. Patients who were younger than 18 years were less likely to initiate a biosimilar than other age groups. Meanwhile, enrollees in commercial high-deductible health plans were more likely to use a biosimilar, compared with those in MA plans.

Some findings from the new report by Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG), an EPIC company, may have seemed like old news: AbbVie Inc.’s Humira (adalimumab) was the top specialty drug in terms of spend. Inflammatory treatments dominated the top 10 of those agents. But the 2024 Artemetrx State of Specialty Spend and Trend Report, released July 25, also revealed some new findings, including that rebates had a smaller impact in 2023 than they did the previous year and that cost per claim played a bigger role in the 2023 specialty drug trend than it did in the prior time frame.

PSG based the report — which is sponsored by Walmart Specialty Pharmacy — on integrated pharmacy and medical claims data from the book of business for its proprietary SaaS platform Artemetrx. In its eighth year, the newest report is based on 138 million medical claims and 136 million pharmacy claims. The findings are based mainly on commercial health plans.

Amid a summertime resurgence of ire directed at major PBMs, CVS Health Corp., The Cigna Group and UnitedHealth Group during their recent earnings calls each took the opportunity to defend their pharmacy benefits businesses and tout their new, more transparent offerings.

When reporting CVS’s second-quarter financial results on Aug. 7, CEO Karen Lynch opened her prepared remarks with the bad news first, revealing that the continued struggles of the firm’s health benefits division led her to cut its 2024 earnings forecast and fire Aetna President Brian Kane. But she then sang the praises of CVS Caremark — as well as hit back at major PBMs’ critics.

July 8: The FDA approved ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s L-glutamine oral powder to reduce the acute complications of sickle cell disease in people at least 5 years old. The company says it is the first AA-rated approved generic for Emmaus Medical, Inc.’s Endari. Dosing for people weighing less than 30 kilograms is one packet twice daily; for those between 30 and 65 kilograms, dosing is two packets twice daily, and for those more than 65 kilograms, dosing is three packets twice daily. Drugs.com lists the price of 60 packets of Endari as more than $1,505.