ICER’s Final NASH Report Urges Step Therapy, Specialist Prescribing, Equitable Access

When the first non-alcoholic steatohepatitis drugs reach market, the health cost watchdog says payers will be justified in setting step-therapy including weight-management efforts, while early prescribing should be by specialists.

Cost control
ICER report recommends step therapy when NASH drugs reach market • Source: Shutterstock

The final assessment from the US Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) on the first drugs vying to open the market for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s obeticholic acid (OCA) and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s resmetirom, concludes that payers should consider using step therapy for weight management before NASH drugs, that price-volume and outcomes-based agreements may be suitable for pricing the first NASH drugs to reach market, and that coverage criteria should foster equitable access to therapy.

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