By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Amgen on Monday launched direct-to-consumer U.S. sales of its cholesterol medication Repatha at a discounted cash price, becoming the latest pharmaceutical company
responding to U.S. political pressure to lower drug prices.
The injected drug, with sales of $2.2 billion last year, will have a monthly price of $239, or nearly 60% below its current U.S. list price, the company said. It said the price matches the lowest it now receives in any economically developed country.
Amgen said the new program is open to eligible U.S. patients, including those who are uninsured or prefer to pay cash for medications. There are no plans, however, to process insurance coverage for purchases through the consumer portal, which will be called AmgenNow.
Few people in the U.S. pay cash for prescription medications. Most have insurance - either commercial or public plans like Medicare - that charge them a fixed co-payment or percentage of a drug cost. Insurers typically receive discounts or rebates directly from drug manufacturers, bringing costs well below list prices.
For people without health insurance, drugmakers often offer reduced-cost or free drug programs.
To keep the costs of expensive drugs under control, insurance plans can require doctors to seek authorization for a new prescription or try older medications first. People purchasing through AmgenNow will not be subject to those requirements, Amgen said.
Amgen was one of 17 major drug companies that received a letter from President Donald Trump in July demanding they charge U.S. patients the same price as people in other high-income countries, create direct-to-consumer channels and increase investment in the U.S. Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on branded drugs.
In response, Pfizer last week agreed to reduce prescription drug prices for Medicaid, which covers low-income people, to match lower prices overseas and said it would launch direct-to-consumer sales of a handful of its drugs.
Pfizer also said it would offer most-favored-nation pricing on new drugs launched in the U.S., and Trump flagged that other drugmakers would follow suit.
The Trump administration said it plans to launch, likely early next year, a website called TrumpRx that will help consumers search for a drug to see if they can buy it directly from its manufacturer. Amgen said its portal will be accessible through TrumpRx.
The drugmaker, based in Thousand Oaks, California, said it intends to eventually add other medicines to AmgenNow.
Repatha targets PCSK9, a protein that maintains "bad" LDL cholesterol in the blood, and helps people who don't benefit from older statin pills, which block the liver's production of LDL cholesterol.
Amgen last week said a large study found that Repatha, which was approved by regulators in 2015, reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events, including death, in people without a prior history of heart attack or stroke.
Other companies, including Merck, are developing oral PCSK9 drugs.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
