Cost of new cholesterol drugs in spotlight

New York

EXPRESS Scripts Holding Co said on Wednesday that two costly new cholesterol fighters will not be "budget busters" for its clients and that most prescriptions for the potent drugs have been rejected because patients did not meet required medical criteria.

"We're seeing a lot of patients who either don't qualify or their physicians are not providing (needed) information," said Everett Neville, a vice-president of Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the United States.

Mr Neville, in an interview, said that Express Scripts and insurers had rejected a surprisingly high number of prescriptions for the two injectable drugs, Praluent from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, and Amgen Inc's Repath…