By Puyaan Singh
Jan 12 (Reuters) – Gilead Sciences’ new HIV prevention drug has been added to CVS Health’s commercial insurance plans, the drugmaker’s CEO Daniel O’Day said at a major industry conference that kicked off on Monday in San Francisco.
“CVS has confirmed their coverage of Yeztugo as of January 1, putting us at more than 80% (insurer) coverage overall,” O’Day said.
In August, Reuters reported that CVS had not added the drug to its plans based on clinical, financial, and regulatory factors, despite the medicine’s proven effectiveness. The twice-yearly injection costs nearly $30,000 a year.
The three largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Caremark, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum RX and Cigna’s Express Scripts, control about 70% of specialty drug prescriptions in the U.S.
Gilead, its investors and AIDS activists have high hopes for Yeztugo. Approved in June for people at high risk of HIV, the drug was shown to be nearly 100% effective at preventing infection in large trials, fueling fresh optimism about limiting the spread of the deadly virus.
O’Day said the company has reached its forecast of sales worth $150 million in 2025, after the drug’s launch in the middle of the year.
He also said lenacapavir, the active ingredient in Yeztugo, “was delivered for the first time ever in a Sub-Saharan African country at the end of last year, in the same year as it was introduced in the United States.”
O’Day said two-thirds of HIV cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Shares of Gilead were up 1.5% in afternoon trading.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
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