Thousand Oaks biotech giant Amgen's summer doldrums are stretching into the fall.
This month Aetna Inc., one of the US's largest insurers, quietly changed its reimbursement guidelines for the company's anemia drugs, echoing Medicare's new tighter reimbursement policy for the medicines.
Aetna is the largest private insurer to do so, and analysts expect others to follow soon. That could seriously harm the company's financial outlook because payments by private insurers account for half of the company's sales among cancer patients.
"Aetna is likely to be the first of many insurers to change their guidelines," said Bear, Stearns & Co. biotech analyst Mark Schoenebaum.
More at LA Times
This month Aetna Inc., one of the US's largest insurers, quietly changed its reimbursement guidelines for the company's anemia drugs, echoing Medicare's new tighter reimbursement policy for the medicines.
Aetna is the largest private insurer to do so, and analysts expect others to follow soon. That could seriously harm the company's financial outlook because payments by private insurers account for half of the company's sales among cancer patients.
"Aetna is likely to be the first of many insurers to change their guidelines," said Bear, Stearns & Co. biotech analyst Mark Schoenebaum.
More at LA Times
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