2 May 2016 - Express Scripts aims to `act within weeks, instead of months'.

Express Scripts Holding Co. said it’s starting a new program designed to respond rapidly to price spikes on old drugs, making it easier to steer patients to cheaper alternatives when a medicine unexpectedly soars in price.

The drug benefit manager’s new “market events” program, which will be optional for Express Scripts’ employer and health-insurer clients, is a response to big price increases on old treatments at specialty drugmakers like Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Turing Pharmaceuticals.

“We are going to be able to act within weeks, instead of months or longer” when price spikes occur or there are other inappropriate efforts to steer patients to costly drugs, said Steve Miller, Express Scripts’ chief medical officer, in an interview. This “sends a message to the marketplace that we are prepared to respond very quickly to these things.”

For more details, go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/valeant-style-price-hikes-targeted-for-fast-review-by-drug-plan