Matt Salo Explains How High-Cost Specialty Drugs Change the Game for Medicaid

The high cost of Gilead Science’s hepatitis C drug Sovaldi is causing Medicaid to come up with new ways of handling such an expensive drug, according to Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

He discussed high-cost specialty drugs and their effect on Medicaid at the America’s Health Insurance Plans National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC, from September 28 to October 2.

“[Sovaldi is] great from a public health perspective; but when you multiply large unit cost times a very large number of people, this drug alone has the potential of doubling Medicaid’s pharmacy spend,” Mr Salo said.