7 August 2018 - Pharmacy-benefit firm shuffles coverage plan amid price debate.

Express Scripts said it will drop 48 drugs next year from its closely watched lineup of covered therapies, including Gilead Sciences' HIV treatment Atripla and AbbVie’s hot-selling Mavyret medicine for hepatitis C.

The drug-benefit manager also won’t cover Sanofi’s hemophilia treatment Eloctate next year, it said in a statement.

Express Scripts and other pharmacy-benefit managers negotiate rebates from brand-name pharmaceutical companies in exchange for including drugs on their coverage lists. But critics say the system can encourage high list prices as drugmakers curry favor with PBMs by offering larger rebates that may not flow directly to consumers. The Trump administration is weighing an overhaul of regulations governing the rebates in an effort to increase competition and help patients.

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