ST. LOUIS, Oct. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Migraine headaches
are a painful reality for 39 million Americans. Severe migraine
pain sends someone in the U.S. to an emergency room every 10
seconds, contributes to 113 million work days lost every year,
costs employers $13 billion in lost
productivity, and leads to billions of dollars spent in outpatient
visits, emergency room visits and hospitalizations[i].
Recognizing a need to help patients and plans improve migraine
management, Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) today announced its new
SafeGuardRx SM Migraine Care
ValueSM program will begin April 1, 2019. This industry-first program
combines a comprehensive clinical care program to help patients
achieve better outcomes and experience fewer migraines, while
helping plan sponsors more affordably cover new, preventive therapy
for their members.
Moving to Preventive Care
"Right now, most patients
take medication to make migraines go away. Our goal is to help
frequent migraine sufferers prevent the migraine from coming on at
all," said Harold Carter, PharmD,
Senior Director, Product, Express Scripts. "Through the clinical
care provided through our new Migraine Care Value program, Express
Scripts specialist pharmacists in our Neuroscience Therapeutic
Resource Center will identify patients using high amounts of acute
migraine treatments, and work with them and their physician to move
them to an appropriate preventive treatment."
Once on preventive therapy, these neuroscience specialist
pharmacists will offer coaching for members to achieve optimal
medication adherence, and to help members avoid migraine
triggers. For members using newer calcitonin gene-related
peptide (CGRP) inhibitors, our pharmacists will coach them on how
to use these injectable medications and overcome barriers to
achieving optimal results.
Affordable Access to Breakthrough Treatments
Clinical
evidence for recently approved CGRP inhibitors has shown these
therapies are effective in reducing the frequency of migraine
headaches in patients who experience four or more migraines per
month. While drug makers have priced CRGP inhibitors in line with
independent value-based assessments from organizations such as the
Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), they are
significantly more costly than previously available preventive
migraine therapies and thus require conscientious management to
ensure optimal patient outcomes.
Not all migraine suffers require CGRP-inhibitor therapy, but for
those patients who meet the clinical guidelines for CGRP therapy,
the Migraine Care Value program will prefer Aimovig™
(erenumab-aooe) and Emgality™ (galcanezumab-gnlm). As with any
new-to-market medication, some patients will feel CGRP-inhibitors
do not work for them. To help minimize plan sponsor exposure to the
high cost of these therapies, Express Scripts is offering an early
discontinuation reimbursement back to the plan sponsor when a
patient discontinues therapy in the first 90 days.
"CGRP inhibitors can be life-changing for people with frequent
migraines which is why it's critical that these drugs be made
affordable to both patients and plan sponsors," said Carter. "With
our SafeGuardRx solutions, we have pioneered an evidence-based
approach that will now help migraine sufferers receive the best
medication and specialized care to enable them to lead full and
productive lives while reducing costs and wasteful spending for our
clients."
About Express Scripts
Express Scripts is a healthcare
opportunity company. Empowered by our legacy as an industry
innovator, we dare to imagine – and deliver – a better healthcare
system with improved health outcomes and lower costs. From pharmacy
and medical benefits management, to specialty pharmacy care and
everything in between – we uncover opportunities to make healthcare
work better.
Our home base is St. Louis, but
our reach extends to millions of Americans across the nation. We
stand alongside our clients and partners, collaborating to develop
personalized solutions that make a meaningful difference in the
lives of those we serve.
We believe healthcare can do more. We are Champions For
BetterSM.
For more information, visit Lab.Express-Scripts.com or follow
@ExpressScripts on Twitter.
Media Contact:
Jennifer
Luddy
201-269-6402
Jennifer_Luddy@express-scripts.com
[i] Migraine Research Foundation
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SOURCE Express Scripts