Repatha Price Cut in an Effort to Reduce Patient Out-of-Pocket Costs

Amgen has announced a price reduction for Repatha (evolocumab), bringing the list price of the therapy to $5,850 per year, a 60% decrease in cost.  

Repatha is a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor. The treatment is approved as an adjunct to diet, alone or in combination with other lipid-lowering therapies, in adults with primary hyperlipidemia (including heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia [HeFH]) to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C); as an adjunct to diet and other LDL-lowering therapies, in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) requiring additional lowering of LDL-C; and to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization in adults with established cardiovascular disease.

The SureClick delivery system will be available immediately at the reduced price, while the prefilled syringe and Pushtronex (monthly, on-body infusor) delivery systems will be available in the next 2-3 months.  

“With a new lower list price for Repatha, Amgen is taking an important step forward to help payers be better positioned to provide breakthrough medicines and help people achieve better outcomes,” said Steve Miller, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Express Scripts. In 2018, Amgen was offering payers significant rebates on Repatha in exchange for improved patience access. “Unfortunately, higher rebates don’t typically result in lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, especially for Medicare patients,” said Murdo Gordon, executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations at Amgen. “While we hope more patients will benefit from swift adoption of these lower-priced options, it is ultimately a payer decision.”

The RepathaReady program offers patients and physicians more information on these new changes. 

Image courtesy of Amgen (Click to open larger version).

For more information call 1-844-REPATHA or visit Amgen.com.