- Philidor Said to Modify Prescriptions to Boost Valeant Sales (bloomberg.com)
..specialty pharmacy that fills prescriptions for Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has altered doctors’ orders to wring more reimbursements out of insurers, according to former employees and an internal document…Workers at the mail-order pharmacy, Philidor RX Services LLC, were given written instructions to change codes on prescriptions in some cases so it would appear that physicians required or patients desired Valeant’s brand-name drugs -- not less expensive generic versions -- be dispensed, the former employees said. Typically, pharmacists will sell a generic version if not precisely told to do otherwise by a “dispense as written” indication on a script. The more "dispense as written" orders, the more sales for the brand-name drugmaker.
- Big Pharma’s Foe Takes Victory Lap as Drug Price Increases Slow (bloomberg.com)
George Paz’s strategy to rein in drug companies’ price increases is starting to show results. A new analysis shows that attempts by drugmakers to raise prices on their prescription medications are being wiped out in negotiations with managers of drug insurance benefits, led…Express Scripts Holding Co.,.. While list prices for drugs continue to rise rapidly,…U.S. brand-name drug prices rose just 0.7 percent in the second quarter from the previous year…. That’s because companies like Express Scripts and CVS have embarked on strategies to exclude big-selling treatments from lists of covered drugs unless their makers offer better prices...