Poor AstraZeneca.
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the US's second-largest health insurer has decided to stop paying for Nexium, a drug for acid reflux, because there are less expensive, equally effective options available.
It is unusual for a health insurer to completely stop paying for a medicine, but UnitedHealth said the move can save it about $150 million, roughly half the amount it spends on the group of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors. For the vast majority of UnitedHealth's plans, the move went into effect this month.
The rest will follow by the beginning of next year.
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Insider's view: good! Nexium always was a waste of money. As a Keiser medic once said: it was "a triumph of marketing over science"!
3 comments:
Insider,
You've obviously never sat holding the hand of a loved one doubled over in pain from acid reflux. If you had, you wouldn't be quite so happy to see a solution to this problem yanked away from those who need it.
Omeprazole is fine.
In fact half of an omeprazole dose IS esomeprazole!!
"Insider,
You've obviously never sat holding the hand of a loved one doubled over in pain from acid reflux. If you had, you wouldn't be quite so happy to see a solution to this problem yanked away from those who need it."
I disagree with Jack on about half of what he writes. But in this case, he's not wrong. Nexium was created SOLELY because Prilosec was losing its patent protection. I asked a sales manager who had recently left AstraZeneca and he told me that Nexium was intentionally marketed as 40mg (whereas Prilosec is typically 20mg), but this fact was downplayed because 40mg to 40mg comparisons showed no difference between the drugs.
Nexium is just AZ's way of extending the life of a drug whose patent has expired. I'd do the same thing if I was in their shoes. But from UHC's perspective, they're doing the right thing.
Really, Nexium is a pointless drug from a therapeutic standpoint.
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