Prime has removed six drugs from its formularies because generics are now available. One has been removed because it has been discontinued.
Prime Therapeutics has removed several drugs from its Medicare formularies, including five that now have generics available and one drug that has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
One of these is the epilepsy drug Vimpat (lacosamide) solution 10 mg/ml from UCB. In March 2022 Alembic, Amneal, and Glenmark launched generic versions of Vimpat. Vimpat has been removed in favor of the generics on some formularies, including Ideal, Value, Value Plus & Essential, and Center of Excellence Formularies. On the Expanded, Complete Formulary, Vimpat will increase in tier. These moves were effective June 8, 2022.
The list price of Vimpat is $1,098.23 per month, according to UCB. The average retail price of generic lacosamide, according to GoodRx, is $878.38 for 60 tablets, but is offered at some locations for as low as $36.22.
Other drugs removed from Prime’s Medicare formularies in favor of generics include:
Additionally, TG Therapeutics’ Ukoniq (umbralisib) has been removed from Prime’s formularies because the drug has been discontinued.
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