Somewhere Tom Scully is smiling

Executive Summary

UnitedHealth announces Sept. 1 that it is dropping AstraZeneca's proton pump inhibitor Nexium (esomeprazole) from the formularies of some of its commercial plans. United says the move does not affect its Medicare Part D plans, but AstraZeneca expects Nexium will be removed from additional United commercial formularies later this year. United says it made the decision in light of the availability of equally effective, less expensive options; esomeprazole is an isomer of AstraZeneca's Prilosec (omeprazole), which is available in over-the-counter and generic versions. AstraZeneca would not comment on the value of the United business, but says it is not revising revenue projections for Nexium for the remainder of 2006 and 2007. Nexium has been held up, by former CMS Administrator Tom Scully and others, as an example of a line extension that could be squeezed by the increasingly challenging reimbursement environment (1"The Pink Sheet" May 31, 2004, p. 28)...