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Medicare Plans Should Halt Off-Label Avastin Step Therapy Amid Supply Disruption, CMS Told

 
• By Cathy Kelly

The leading supplier of repackaged off-label Avastin for ophthalmic uses is discontinuing the product. Is this the beginning of the end for a relatively cheap wet AMD treatment?

Prescribers have long opposed step therapy in the anti-VEGF category. (Shutterstock)

While repackaged Avastin (bevacizumab) is in short supply, medical professional groups want the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to direct Medicare Advantage plans to suspend formulary requirements that patients “step” through off-label ocular Avastin before gaining coverage for more expensive VEGF inhibitors.

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