Express Scripts backs $1 alternative to $750 Daraprim pill

Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S., will cover a $1 treatment designed as an alternative to a $750 pill that helps patients ward off a potentially deadly parasitic disease.

The pharmacy benefits giant (ESRX) said it would speed access to a $1 treatment offered by San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals (IMMY) as a customized alternative to Daraprim, which became a lightning rod for criticism this fall when Turing Pharmaceuticals raised its price from $13.50 a pill to $750.

The Food and Drug Administration-approved Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that afflicts people with weakened immune systems, such as those with AIDS and pregnant women.

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To be sure, the FDA has not approved Imprimis’ compounded drug formulations as a recommended treatment for toxoplasmosis.

But doctors can still prescribe the treatment, and Express Scripts said it will collaborate with the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) to "help educate physicians on the value of prescribing this viable, far less expensive alternative to Daraprim."

"Leveraging our expertise to improve access and affordability to an important medication is the right thing to do for HIV patients and others who could benefit from a combination of pyrimethamine and leucovorin," Express Scripts Chief Medical Officer Steve Miller said in a statement. "We will share our solution with other payers to make sure all appropriate patients around the country have access to the treatment they need at the lowest possible price."

The move marks a boon for Imprimis, whose shares soared 19% in pre-market trading Tuesday to $18.

Turing Pharmaceuticals responded with a sharp denunciation of the Imprimis plan to offer a non-FDA-approved oral formulation of pyrimethamine and leucovorin, which is a form of folic acid, as a treatment for toxoplasmosis.

In a statement delivered to USA TODAY, Turing Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzlaff said that "in addition to being potentially unsafe and ineffective, the compounded product is unnecessary."

Turing is offering "patient assistance programs" to low-income people that can limit their costs to $10 copayments, she said.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.