AbbVie fires first in HCV price war

Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:ESRX) worked overtime to make good on its pledge to hammer expensive drugs for HCV, granting exclusive formulary status to Viekira Pak from AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in exchange for undisclosed rebates on the treatment.

The deal comes after the PBM's pharmacy and therapeutics committee met over the weekend following FDA's approval of Viekira Pak to treat HCV genotype 1 on Dec. 19. The same day, AbbVie announced that the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) for the two-pill regimen would be $83,319 for a 12-week course. ...