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Specialty Pharmaceuticals for Hyperlipidemia - Impact on Insurance Premiums.
N Engl J Med. 2015 Oct 7;
Authors: Schulman KA, Balu S, Reed SD
Abstract
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved alirocumab and evolocumab, PCSK9 inhibitors, for the treatment of hyperlipidemia. These novel biologic agents offer the promise of reductions in blood cholesterol levels. Specifically, the FDA approved alirocumab as an "adjunct to diet and maximally tolerated statin therapy for the treatment of adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, who require additional lowering of LDL [low-density lipoprotein]-cholesterol."(1) This broad indication sets the practice of cardiology on a collision course with specialty pharmaceutical pricing models that were previously reserved for drugs that benefited relatively limited patient populations. Alirocumab was launched . . .
PMID: 26444460 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]