Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX) shares jumped 9% in Tuesday pre-market trading after it announced that its Inpefa heart failure drug has received preferred formulary status for Medicare patients with Express Scripts from November 1.
The company’s stock declined 7% on Monday.
In a statement, Lexicon said Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits management (PBM) business of The Cigna Group's Evernorth, determined that it would place Inpefa on its Premier Access and Premier Performance national formularies.
“We are proud to announce this significant milestone for Inpefa and are appreciative of the expeditious steps Express Scripts has taken to make Inpefa available to patients who need it the most,” Lexicon CEO Lonnel Coats commented.
“We have been working towards this achievement and hope to continue this momentum with additional significant progress towards broad access to and coverage for Inpefa.”
The company noted that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Inpefa, a once-daily oral tablet, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure, and urgent heart failure visits in adults with heart failure or type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and other cardiovascular risk factors.
The drug is currently commercially available in the US.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com