Shield shares surge on expansion of US coverage for Accrufer

Commercial-stage pharmaceutical company Shield Therapeutics updated the market on progress made on payer coverage of ‘Accrufer’ in the United States on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following the US launch of Accrufer in July, one of its key focus points was to establish payer coverage.

It said it had made “substantial progress”, successfully securing payer coverage with a number of large pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), including Express Scripts and Optum.

That, the board said, provided Shield with access to around 40 million commercial patients.

The contracts would result in Accrufer being placed on formulary, and were effective immediately.

“We have made significant progress over the past few months in the US, by securing reimbursement for Accrufer among several large pharmacy benefit managers,” said chief executive officer Greg Madison.

“Gaining coverage of Accrufer among payers is a critical step for adoption, and we expect to further expand that coverage in 2022.

“Our clinical message has been well received during the initial stages of our launch, and we continue to expand awareness of Accrufer among health care professionals.”

Shield said it would provide a further, more detailed business update to shareholders in the first quarter of 2022.

At 1429 GMT, shares in Shield Therapeutics were up 29.06% at 37.75p.