Our Pharmacy and Medical teams at Wellfleet stay abreast of healthcare’s continuous advancements and developments. Keeping the latest clinical research and financial information in mind, we regularly update our student-centered formulary* to ensure we’re providing our students with the right medications to meet their needs.
Wellfleet Rx updates
Resulting from this process, we recently explored how we can optimize generic medication savings, improve our $0.00 copay drug list, and otherwise enhance the formulary to ensure we’re offering cost-effective, clinically supported medications.
Read on to learn what updates we made to the Student Formulary in July 2023.
Naloxone unlimited $0.00 copay
To continue to provide life-saving medications that effectively reverse opioid overdose,1 we have removed the one $0.00 fill per year limitation on naloxone products, and increased access to this medication to support the reduction of opioid overdose deaths.1
Addition of weight loss medications
For our student plans that cover weight loss medications for obesity, we added coverage of three weight loss medications, including phentermine,2 which moved from excluded to a tier one medication. Alongside a weight reduction plan that includes dietary and exercise modification, phentermine can be used as a short-term adjunct medication for weight loss.2
Two other weight-loss medications, Qsymia3 and Saxenda,4 have been moved from excluded to tier three on the Wellfleet Rx Student Formulary. By providing our students with more options for obesity treatment, we aim to help improve their health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Generic alternative coverage instead of brand name
At Wellfleet, we are conscious of ways to save students money on their medications. So, we have removed coverage of some brand-name medications and substituted them with coverage of generic alternatives. These generic alternatives are lower cost while providing comparable therapeutic effects. Many of these generic medications were already on the formulary, but in the cases where they were not, we added them to the formulary.
Additional HIV treatment option
We have added coverage of Sunlenca, a newly released product for treatment-resistant HIV.5 HIV is a disease that affects approximately 1.2 million Americans,6 so providing effective treatments is essential. Sunlenca offers another option for patients dealing with HIV whose disease cannot be effectively treated with other medications.5
Quantity limits
We have added FDA-approved quantity limits, or max units per day or month, for a few medications. These limits help students get the right amount of medication for their needs while reducing overuse and protecting the safety of our members.
Learn more about our formulary updates
These changes are some of the most significant updates we’ve made to the Wellfleet Rx Student Formulary as of July 1, 2023. We made some additional updates you can explore further by viewing our July 2023 student formulary changes document.
References
1 FDA. (2023, June 21). Information about Naloxone and Nalmefene. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/information-about-naloxone-and-nalmefene#:~:text=To%20support%20these%20efforts%2C% 20the,is%20not%20a%20controlled%20substance.
2 FDA. Highlights of Prescribing Information. FDA Access Data. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2013/202088s005lbl.pdf.
3 FDA. Highlights of Prescribing Information. FDA Access Data. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2012/022580s000lbl.pdf.
4 FDA. Highlights of Prescribing Information. FDA Access Data. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2018/206321s007lbl.pdf.
5 FDA (2022, December 22). FDA Approves New HIV Drug for Adults with Limited Treatment Options. U.S Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-hiv-drug-adults-limited-treatment-options.
6 CDC (2023, May 22). Basic Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html.
*The Wellfleet Rx Student Formulary is proprietary to Wellfleet Group, LLC and protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and trade secrets laws. Information contained therein may not be published, distributed, or reproduced, in part or whole, without express written consent of Wellfleet Group, LLC.
