April 2015 Formulary Changes to the Top 10 Medicare Drugs

The most recent (April 2015) Medicare Part D plan formulary data (or drug lists) updates included 360 new drug codes. See April 2015 Summary of the Most Recent Updates for the Medicare Part D Plan Formularies (Drug Lists) for details.

Although this blog is about the top 10 Medicare drugs, we include some of the newer generic equivalents to the list, thus bringing our list to include 17 drugs. The generics included are Atorvastatin [Lipitor®] , Clopidogrel [Plavix®], Escitalopram [Lexapro®], Esomeprazole Sodium [Nexium®], Pioglitazone [Actos®], Quetiapine Fumarate [Seroquel®], and Valsartan-HCTZ [Diovan HCT®].

The changes to the number of formularies covering these medications looks as follows:

Count of 2015 Formularies covering the Top 10 Medicare Drugs Program wide
Formulary Count*
NDC	Drug Name	2013 End**	2014 Start**	2014 End**	2015 Start**	April	May	June	July	Aug.
00430047203	ACTONEL 35 MG 36 DOSE PACK	233	238	248	140	147
64764030115	ACTOS 30MG/1 TABLET (90 CT)	214	71	75	32	33
00173069600	ADVAIR DISKUS MIS 250/50	307	330	347	313	351
63304082790	ATORVASTATIN 10 MG TABLET [Lipitor]	316	340	364	350	393
00378362777	CLOPIDOGREL TAB 75MG [Plavix]	315	340	364	350	393
00078031534	DIOVAN HCT 160/12.5MG TABLET	185	78	80	47	48
00093585101	ESCITALOPRAM 10 MG TABLET [Lexapro]	315	339	363	349	392
47335050944	ESOMEPRAZOLE SODIUM 40 MG VIAL [Nexium]	253	235	271
00088222033	LANTUS 100U/ML VIAL	309	325	350	338	379
00456201001	LEXAPRO 10MG TABLET	92	54	55	31	43
00071015523	LIPITOR 10MG TABLET	68	42	43	28	28
00186504054	NEXIUM 40MG CAPSULE	198	198	211	156	202
00378022893	PIOGLITAZONE HCL 30 MG TABLET [Actos]	310	340	364	350	393
63653117105	PLAVIX 75MG TABLET	109	48	48	31	32
47335090288	QUETIAPINE FUMARATE 25 MG TAB [SEROQUEL]	316	339	364	350	393
00310027510	SEROQUEL 25MG TABLET	112	54	54	29	41
00378632205	VALSARTAN-HCTZ 160-12.5 MG TAB [Diovan HCT]	297	319	343	332	386

*The formulary counts include both stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAPD) in all states and the U.S. territories.
**Ending 2013 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2013. Starting 2014 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2013, ending 2014 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2014. Starting 2015 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2014.

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