Movantik Chosen as Preferred Brand for Some Blue Cross Plans

RedHill Biopharma, a specialty biopharmaceutical company in Raleigh, N.C., has received Preferred Brand status on a unidentified national formulary that serves some Blue Cross plans for Movantik (naloxegol), a treatment for opioid-induced constipation. The coverage started on July 1, 2021.

“This important new listing as an unrestricted preferred brand strengthens Movantik’s leadership position and now means that over 30 million more Americans will have access to Movantik,” Rick Scruggs, RedHill’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

Company officials said Movantik’s total commercial coverage now extends to 152 million American patients’ lives.

The FDA approved Movantik in September 2014. RedHill acquired global marketing rights (except in Europe and Canada) to Movantik from AstraZeneca in April 2020.