Express Scripts covering Qsymia

Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ESRX) added obesity drug Qsymia phentermine/topiramate from Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) to its national pharmacy formularies. Qsymia was added as a Tier 3 drug, with an estimated co-pay of $50-$60 for a monthly prescription. In a November conference call, Vivus said payers are covering Qsymia with an average co-pay of $62. Express Scripts declined to comment on whether it had added fellow obesity drug Belviq lorcaserin from Eisai Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4523; Osaka:4523) and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) to its formularies.

Eisai said it has not yet had discussions with Express Scripts or other payers regarding coverage of Belviq. The pharma, which has U.S. rights to Belviq from Arena, said it will start discussions about coverage after final scheduling of the drug from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. On Wednesday, the DEA proposed classifying Belviq as a class IV scheduled drug, where class I indicates the highest potential for abuse and class V the lowest. The proposal is in line with FDA's recommendation when it approved the drug in June. Comments on the proposal are due Jan. 18. The partners plan to launch Belviq in the U.S. in early 2013. ...