What changed when CVS Caremark dropped Humira?
Biosimilar share rose from ~2% to ~22% by October 2024 after Caremark removed branded Humira on April 1, 2024 — but it excluded most competitors and included two made by its own Cordavis subsidiary, raising conflicts-of-interest questions.
On April 1, 2024, CVS Caremark removed branded Humira from its major national commercial formularies, the first large PBM to do so. Biosimilar share rose to about 22% by October 2024. But CVS did not open the category to all competitors. According to Forbes, instead of allowing all marketed biosimilars, CVS excluded most and included two made by its own subsidiary, Cordavis, which were not the lowest-priced products. CVS's preferred products include a Cordavis private-label version of Sandoz's Hyrimoz, and Drug Channels lists a Cordavis "follow-on biologic" supplied by AbbVie itself. The move shifted volume quickly, but raised questions about whether PBMs were steering patients towards products that benefited their own corporate groups rather than the cheapest option.