What to Expect at This Year’s Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit (Guest Post)

Today’s guest post comes from Jayne Hornung, Chief Clinical Officer at MMIT.

Jayne discusses changes in the life science and specialty pharmacy industries since the COVID-19 pandemic began. She highlights three key trends that pharma companies, plan sponsors, and others will consider as we head to the upcoming Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit (October 26 to 29 in Las Vegas).

To learn more, schedule a meeting with one of MMIT's experts at the upcoming Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

Read on for Jayne’s insights.

White Bagging Update: PBMs’ Specialty Pharmacies Keep Gaining on Buy-and-Bill Oncology Channels

Payers have long sought to disrupt the buy-and-bill channel.

Coming out of the pandemic (maybe?), specialty pharmacies—via white, brown, and clear bagging—continue to displace buy-and-bill distribution channels for provider-administered oncology drugs. Check out the latest 2021 data below.

The battle for the specialty patient pits hospitals against insurers—and their respective specialty pharmacies. As you will see, UnitedHealthcare has been especially aggressive in accelerating channel change.

White bagging can boost profits and revenues for PBM-owned specialty pharmacies while increasing payers’ control over hard-to-manage medical benefit drugs. Hospitals, however, lose profits and face higher costs. Look for more drama as this squid game plays out.

FYI: The material in today’s article is adapted from Section 3.1. of our new 2021–22 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors, available at special introductory pricing until October 15.

Conducting Patient Access in an Evolving Market

Today’s guest post comes from Bill Dupere, Practice Lead and VP of Market Access Solutions and Eric Willis, VP of Operations Hub and Reimbursement Services at TrialCard.

Bill and Eric discuss the complexities of digital patient support program technologies and introduce TrialCard’s integrated suite of solutions.

To learn more, please contact Trialcard at sales@trialcard.com or visit them in booth #416 at the upcoming Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit from October 26 to 29, 2021.

Read on for Bill’s and Eric’s insights.

NEW: The 2021–22 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors

I am pleased to announce our new 2021–22 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors, available for purchase and immediate download.

• Click here to download a free report overview (including a summary of industry trends, the Table of Contents, and a List of Exhibits)

• New Drug Channels Institute Study: Biosimilars Are Delivering Higher Profits for Drug Distributors (press release)

We’re offering special discounted pricing if you order before October 15, 2021!

The 2021–22 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors—our 12th edition— remains the most comprehensive, fact-based tool for understanding and analyzing the large and growing U.S. pharmaceutical distribution industry.

This 2021-22 edition contains the most current financial and industry data along with detailed information about the strategies and market positions of the largest companies: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. It updates our annual analysis of each wholesaler’s business segments and underlying business profitability, based upon our proprietary economic models.

The notable new material in this 2021-22 edition includes three new sections:

• Section 4.2.5. analyzes how marketplace dynamics of provider-administered biosimilars affect wholesalers’ gross margins. (Section 4.4. in this edition introduces our estimates of these profits.)

• Section 7.4.4. reviews AmerisourceBergen’s entry into the European distribution market. (We consider McKesson’s exit from Europe in Section 9.4.3.)

• Section 6.1.5. summarizes key aspects of the wholesalers’ national opioid settlement.

If you would like to pay by corporate purchase order or check, please email Tamra Feldman. If you preordered the report, you should have already received an email with download instructions. Please contact us if you did not receive the email.

WHAT’S GOING ON

Twice a year, I spend my evenings and weekends writing two comprehensive, fact-based, and nonpartisan reports on drug channel economics. In some small way, I try to make the world a better and smarter place.

Licenses for our DCI reports are regularly purchased by nearly every company involved in the drug channel: pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacists, pharmacy owners, hospitals, buyers, benefit managers, managed care executives, policy analysts, investors, lawyers, consultants, and more. So, you can find out what your customers, partners, and competitors are reading.

The 2021–22 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors is the only resource of its kind available anywhere. It offers 142 proprietary charts, exhibits, and data tables.

FOUR FUN FACTS

• The 9 chapters are self-contained and do not need to be read in order. (Really!) There are loads of internal hyperlinks to help you navigate the document and customize it to your specific interests and priorities.

• We are offering the option to download an additional PowerPoint file with images of all 142 exhibits. This popular option helps you share the insights and data with others in your organization. (The exhibits appear in all license versions. The PowerPoint file option is available only with the purchase of a corporate license.)

• There are an astonishing 537 (!) endnotes, most of which have hyperlinks to original source materials. These source materials offer a handy way to build your knowledge base beyond what’s included in the full report.

• As usual, I have reluctantly stripped out the corny jokes and pop culture references.

If you have any questions (before or after reading the report), please email me.

Enjoy!

Informa Connect’s Rare Disease Innovation & Partnering Summit

Informa Connect’s Rare Disease Innovation & Partnering Summit
Hybrid Event
In person: December 6-10 | Boston, MA
Virtual: December 9-10
www.informaconnect.com/raredisease

Exclusive Offer – Be sure to use your exclusive promo code DC4RARE10 to save 10% off* of your registration

After over a year apart, Informa Connect is pleased to announce that Rare Disease Innovation & Partnering Summit will return this Winter as a hybrid event, in-person December 6-7 in Boston, MA and virtually December 9-10. Driven by industry, advocacy, policy and investor insights, the Rare Disease Innovation & Partnering Summit convenes diverse stakeholders to discuss opportunities for continued innovation, advancement of impactful patient advocacy and acceleration of commercial strategy success.

Join multi-stakeholders as they gather and discuss novel approaches to optimize value, access and commercial strategy, deliver insights on maximizing engagement and innovation through data, research and technology and dive into best practices for driving therapeutic progress and creating purposeful partnering. Do not miss this opportunity to advance your organization forward. In such trying times, 2021 is a must-attend.

Exclusive Offer – Download the agenda and register today – Be sure to use your exclusive promo code DC4RARE10 to save 10% off* of your registration

Whether you choose to attend in-person or virtual (or both!), Rare Disease Innovation & Partnering Summit is sure to deliver impactful discussions, inspiring leaders and meaningful connections that will help advance the rare community forward. Tackle to most pressing challenges surrounding patient access, reimbursement, commercialization, launch, partnering and more with experts from across the industry.

Can’t Miss Content Highlights:

• PANEL: Fostering Effective Relationships Between Industry and Advocacy
• Leverage Genetic Testing for Value for Rare Disease Patients
• Harness the Power of Data to Drive Progress
• TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: Developing and Scaling Digital Therapeutics for Rare Diseases
• Reverse Engineering for Drug Development in Rare Diseases
• REGULATORY SPOTLIGHT: Navigate FDA Updates on Rare Disease Product Development
• Risks and Rewards of Rare Disease Drug Development — Highlight Opportunities and the Way Forward

PLUS! Tailored Breakouts for Customizable Learning:

• Patient Driven Progress
• Reimbursement, Value and Access
• New Launch and Commercialization
• Partnering, Investment and Portfolio Strategy

How Does Hybrid Work?

ALL ACCESS PASS includes the in-person event December 6-7 AND the virtual experience December 9-10

VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE PASS includes recorded presentations from the in-person event, as well as daily live streaming content December 9-10 (plus, 30-day portal access)

Exclusive Offer – Download the agenda and register today – Be sure to use your exclusive promo DC4RARE10 to save 10% off* of your registration
Informa Connect will see you there!

*Cannot be combined with other offers, promotions or applied to an existing registration. Other restrictions may apply.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees. To find out how you can promote an event on Drug Channels, please contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannels.net).

Supporting Patient Adherence Through Electronic Prior Authorization and First Fill Copay Programs

Today’s guest post comes from David Fidler, Senior Director of Product Innovation at ConnectiveRx. David discusses how electronic prior authorization (ePA) and first-fill, buy-down programs can boost patient adherence to specialty therapies.

On November 3rd at 1:00 pm ET, ConnectiveRx will host First Fill, No Wait: How to Make it Happen, a free webinar about copay ePA. Click here to register.

Email inquiries@ConnectiveRx.com with any questions.

Read on for David’s insights.

Drug Channels News Roundup, September 2021: Hospitals’ 340B Profits, Drug Prices Deflate, U.S. vs. EU, Amazon vs. CVS, and More Bad Blood for Theranos

Autumn is here! Curl up with your favorite pumpkin-spiced blog and savor these stories harvested from the Drug Channels patch:

• Fresh insights about hospitals’ specialty drug profits

• SSR Update: Drug prices keep dropping

• My $0.02 on international benchmarking goes viral

• Amazon is finally disrupting CVS—but not how you expected

Plus, the best article ever about Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos trial.

P.S. Please join the more than 12,500 consumers of my daily commentary and links to neat stuff at @DrugChannels on Twitter. You can also find me on LinkedIn, where I have more than 20,000 followers.

My recent social media topics have included: the ASPE report, biosimilar reimbursement, non-profit hospital shenanigans, HRSA’s reorganization, MTM in Part D, PBMs’ GPOs, pharmacy GPOs, channel strategy, white bagging, and the soothing sounds of pills being counted.

Informa Connect’s Trade & Channel Strategies

Informa Connect’s Trade & Channel Strategies
Delivered as a Hybrid Event
In-Person: December 13-14, Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA
Virtual: December 16-17
www.informaconnect.com/trade-channel/

Year after year, the life science industry marks Informa Connect’s Trade and Channel Strategies as the “go-to” event for trade, channel, market access, account strategy and brand professionals. Join hundreds of your industry counterparts this December to unravel the complexities of the channel, navigate high-impact topics transforming trade and benchmark winning pharmacy and distribution frameworks.

Drug Channels readers will save 10% off the current rate when they register and use code 21DC10*.

Live Keynotes Delivering Timely Updates and Insights on High-Impact Topics:

• Analyze Market Dynamics and Trends Impacting the Channel in an Ever-Changing Environment
• Unpack Emerging Product Specific Trends in 3PL, Distribution and Pharmacy
• Break Down Evolving Regulatory Reform Driving Innovation and Access
• Navigate Major Market Mergers and Forecast Future Evolution in the Industry
• Discover Pharmacy-Level Innovations Redesigning Care and Driving eCommerce

Customize Your Experience with Tailored Content:

• Benefit from sessions covering the full product mix
• Build your own agenda with focused breakouts on critical topic areas
• Hear from key stakeholders along the supply chain continuum
• Attend the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit taking place December 14th

Drug Channels readers will save 10% off the current rate when they register and use code 21DC10*.

Be sure to sign up today and save your seat!

*Offer applies to current rates only and may not be combined with other offers, category rates, promotions or applied to an existing registration. Offer not valid on workshop only or academic/non-profit registrations.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees. To find out how you can promote an event on Drug Channels, please contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannels.net).

Pharmacist Job Market in 2020: Hospital Employment Up, Retail Salaries Down (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for today's live video webinar: Drug Channels Update: Buy-and-Bill Market Trends.

Click here to see the original post and comments from June 2021.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has recently released its employment and salary data for 2020. That means it’s time to update Drug Channels Institute’s (DCI) annual analysis of pharmacist salaries and employment.

We have found that the share of pharmacists who work at hospitals reached a new high. What’s more, average base salaries for retail pharmacists have dropped, while salaries have risen for pharmacists employed by hospitals, physician offices, and other non-retail settings. 

A word of caution: These data were collected during the peak of last year’s pandemic shutdowns. I suspect that 2020 will turn out to have been a much more challenging year for retail-employed pharmacists.

How Cigna’s Growing Pharmacy Platform Expands Its Channel Power (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for this Friday’s live video webinar: Drug Channels Update: Buy-and-Bill Market Trends.

Click here to see the original post and comments from May 2021.

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Last week, Cigna released its earnings for the first quarter of 2021. Links below.

I was struck by how quickly Cigna’s Express Scripts PBM business has increased revenues and prescriptions from its retail pharmacy network. Our second chart below highlights this growth.

The businesses in Cigna's Evernorth segment—especially Express Scripts, Ascent Health Services, and InsideRx—are already providing rebate negotiation, network management, and/or a sourcing platform for Prime Therapeutics, Kroger, Humana, GoodRx, and Amazon. 

I expect Cigna’s influence over the drug channel to expand further as other businesses step onto this burgeoning platform.

EXCLUSIVE: The 340B Program Soared to $38 Billion in 2020—Up 27% vs. 2019 (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for this Friday’s live video webinar: Drug Channels Update: Buy-and-Bill Market Trends.

Click here to see the original post and comments from June 2021.

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Despite what you may have heard, the 340B Drug Pricing Program continues to thrive.

Discounted purchases under the program reached at least $38 billion in 2020. That figure is an astonishing 27% higher than its 2019 counterpart—and more than quadruple the value of discounted purchases in 2014.

Drug Channels has exclusively obtained the 2020 amount from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). We received it by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that was just answered yesterday. You can read our FOIA letter below, along with more details on the program's growth.

The 340B program’s size now exceeds the Medicaid program’s outpatient drug sales—and accounts for nearly 20% of the total rebates and discounts that manufacturers provide for brand-name drugs. Alas, many elements of the 340B program—including its controversial contract pharmacy component—lack a comprehensive regulatory infrastructure.

DCI’s Top 15 Specialty Pharmacies of 2020: PBMs Expand Amid the Shakeout—While Walgreens’ Outlook Dims (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for this Friday’s live video webinar: Drug Channels Update: Buy-and-Bill Market Trends.

Click here to see the original post and comments from May 2021. BTW, my prediction about AllianceRx Walgreens Prime is already starting to come true. Prime Therapeutics recently alleged that Walgreens is competing against the companies' joint venture.

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In Drug Channels Institute's list of the top 15 pharmacies of 2020, we show that many of the largest U.S. market participants are now central-fill mail and specialty pharmacies operated by PBMs and insurers.

To complement that broader ranking, we present below our exclusive list of the top 15 pharmacies based on specialty drug dispensing revenues. You will see that PBMs and insurers have increased their dominance over specialty drug channels. Many of the largest independent companies have been acquired.

As we look ahead, CVS Health and Cigna’s Express Scripts seem best positioned for further growth. However, AllianceRx Walgreens Prime—the joint venture between Walgreens Boots Alliance and Prime Therapeutics—faces significant market share loss.

Read on for all the details.