title: Price pressure. As the number of costly specialty drugs grows, insurers and providers push for more reasonable alternatives.
abstract: Faced with a rising tide of specialty drugs with eyebrow-raising prices, hospitals and insurers are pushing back. That means looking for less-costly alternatives, though options are limited. "Our goal is, as more patients come along, we get them on Elelyso and not on more expensive Cerezyme," says Eric Cannon, chief of pharmacy for insurer SelectHealth. Elelyso entered the market in 2012 and costs about $150,000 per year for a patient, versus the more costly rival drug Cerezyme.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D016527:Drug Costs; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement / Q000191:economics*; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States