As announced by Express Scripts (ESRX, Financial) through PR Newswire Dec. 12, the program that targets the treatment of patients affected with the hepatitis C virus, called “Hepatitis Cure Value Program,” will be upgraded with another product in January.
Gilead Sciences' (GILD, Financial) Harvoni will be added to AbbVie's (ABBV, Financial) Viekira Pak for the treatment of HCV patients.
Express Scripts says that, thanks to the Hepatitis Cure Value Program, it has been possible to reduce the treatment cost close to 50%, making a more affordable price for Harvoni, so HCV patients and doctors will have another option for treatment available.
The National Preferred Formulary of Express Scripts that covers over 25 million Americans will also comprise Harvoni.
Since its inception in 2015, the Hepatitis Cure Value Program has guided over 50,000 patients affected with hepatitis C virus to benefit from a therapy based on Viekira Pak.
The Express Scripts Oncology Core Value Program will also open its umbrella in 2017 for the coverage of other medications used for the treatment “of multiple myeloma, nonsmall cell lung cancer, prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma,” according to the press release.
Express Scripts’ Cholesterol Care Value Program, which adopts health care professionals’ assessment of clinical performance and recommendations of specialist pharmacists to evaluate the PCSK9 inhibitors’ suitability to the clinical cases, has shown a higher adherence rate than that one seen at the retail pharmacy level: 89.3% versus 82.1%.
“The PCSK9 inhibitors are a new class of drugs that have been shown to dramatically lower LDL cholesterol levels. PCSK9 inhibitors are monoclonal antibodies (MABs), a type of biologic drug. They inactivate a protein in the liver called proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9). PCSK9 itself inactivates the needed receptors on the liver cell surface that transport LDL into the liver for metabolism (break down). Without these receptors, more LDL ('bad' cholesterol) remains in the blood. So, by inactivating PCSK9 via inhibition, more receptors are available to capture LDL for metabolism and removal from the blood.” – Drugs.com
Express Scripts is trading at $72.93, up 83 cents (or 1.15%) from the previous close. The 52-week range is between $64.46 and $89.00, and the price-earnings (P/E) ratio (TTM) is 17.24.
The company has $2.3 billion in cash on hand, and the total debt amounted to $16.11 billion in the most recent quarter.
Express Scripts has a market capitalization of $44.99 billion and has 616.62 million of shares outstanding, of which 615.02 million can be traded on Nasdaq; 0.25% is held by insiders and 98.10% is held by institutions.
In the third quarter, David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox and Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) reduced their positions in Express Scripts by 54.60%, 4.40%, 6.39%, 9.47%, 95.01%, 1.50%, 1.30% and 1.34%, while Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio) and Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) increased their positions by 18.85%, 8.31% and 0.13%.
During the same quarter Richard Pzena opened a position in Express Scripts and bought 3,507 shares.
AbbVie is trading at $62.13, up 9 cents (or 0.15%) on the New York Stock Exchange from the previous close while Gilead Sciences is trading at $74.89, up $1.89 (or 2.59%) on Nasdaq from the previous trading day.
NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio), Greenblatt, Dreman, Gabelli and Fisher reduced their positions in AbbVie by 73.90%, 24.43%, 5.52%, 42.78% and 1.35%.
Greenblatt, Ronald Muhlenkamp (Trades, Portfolio), NWQ Managers, Dreman, Gabelli and Fisher reduced their positions in Gilead Sciences by 9.11%, 1.15%, 24.38%, 3.06%, 65.34% and 0.44% while John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio) and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) increased their positions by 6.18%, 3.64% and 220.65%.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stock mentioned in this article.
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