In a win for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Colorado state board voted not to place the company’s best-selling cystic fibrosis medication on a list of drugs for which payment limits will be set for most residents, including those whose insurance is covered by a government agency or a commercial health plan.
The Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Board voted unanimously that the expensive medicine, which carries a wholesale price of about $310,000 in the U.S. before any rebates or discounts, was “not unaffordable.” The decision came at one of a series of meetings the board has been holding in recent weeks to review medicines that were proposed for the list.
Colorado is one of seven states that have created such boards, which are designed to function like a rate-setting authority. Most boards seek to set upper payment limits, or ceilings, used for determining prices that are paid for medicines. And in some states, the plan is to set prices paid not just by state and local governments, but also by commercial health plans operating there.