Peter Wehrwein, Managing Editor

Health plans and PBMs are using AI to aggregate data, summarize information and enhance their formulary decision-making processes, according to Douglas S. Burgoyne, Pharm.D., MBA, FAMCP, adjunct associate professor at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy.

Technology can help address the complexities of specialty medications by automating processes and enabling proactive interventions to ensure patients stay on their critical therapies, according to Kristen Whelchel, Pharm.D., CSP, Research and Patient Care Improvement Pharmacist with Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy's Department of Health Outcomes and Research.

The list includes dengue fever, chikungunya, leptospirosis and Valley fever, says University of Washington professor Peter Rabinowitz, M.D., M.P.H.

Data about higher doses that are injected less often come as the original 2-milligram dose of Eylea is facing an increasing number of biosimilar competitors.

Patients self-identified as members of the minority group that the study was designed to enroll, according to Jeremiah Brown, M.D., of Retina Consultants of Texas, one of the lead ELEVATUM investigators. The study will yield a "treasure trove" of data, Brown said.

Enrollment goals for the U.S. part of the phase 4, open-label study of Vabysmo (faricimab) were 45% Black participants, 45% Hispanic participants and 10% Native American, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian, said Jeremiah Brown, M.D., a lead ELEVATUM investigator.

Harmony Garges, M.D, senior vice president, chief medical officer and head of global medical at ViiV Healthcare, highlighted results of two real-world evidence studies of Apretude as an HIV prevention medication.

IJ Anosike, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, explains how COVID fatigue can lead to a downward trend in children getting the proper vaccines.

Only 15% of those who start a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) for weight loss are still taking it two years later according to Prime Therapeutics’ real-world evidence, says Ben Urick, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a health outcomes researcher for the pharmacy benefit manager.

Kristen Whelchel, Pharm.D., CSP, Research and Patient Care Improvement Pharmacist with Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy's Department of Health Outcomes and Research, explains how technology identifies at-risk patients, coordinates medication refills and more.

Statins have had an evolving role in the management of cardiovascular risk in people living with HIV, explained Michelle Cespedes, M.D., M.S., professor of medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System.

Even people living with HIV who have undetectable viral loads experience elevated inflammation levels, explained Michelle Cespedes, M.D., M.S, of Mount Sinai Health System.

Building relationships with state and local officials and repairing the tattered primary care system in the U.S. were some of the suggestions made at the opening plenary session of ID Week 2024.

Crescent Moore, Ph.D., Pharm.D., Director of Part D/Pharmacy at BluePeak Advisors, highlights the expected shift of Medicare beneficiaries towards Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans.

Crescent Moore, Ph.D., Pharm.D., Director of Part D/Pharmacy at BluePeak Advisors, explains the impacts of the upcoming changes to Medicare Part D.

Charlie Dragovich, Senior Director and Client Strategist at Cencora, talks about the way regulations usually work and how the road to the Preapproval Information Exchange Act was different.

An overview of the preapproval information exchange (PIE) from Charlie Dragovich, Senior Director and Client Strategist at Cencora

An optimistic outlook on the future of the biosimilar market driving down pharmaceutical drug spend.

How health plans are implementing strategies to leverage biosimilars to lower costs for both payers and patients, according to Javier Gonzalez, Pharm.D., chief growth and commercial officer of Abarca

Cynthiya Ruban, Ph.D., M.S., Director of Digital Solutions at Cencora says to keep the following in mind as AI use accelerates.

Ways AI is increasingly used in healthcare and how it can benefit healthcare decision makers, according to Cynthiya Ruban, Ph.D., M.S., Director of Digital Solutions at Cencora.

It's not the multimillion dollar prices, says Kevin Niehoff, Pharm.D., of IPD Analytics. The pool of sickle cell disease patients who are prime candidates for sickle cell disease gene therapy was overestimated, according to Niehoff.

Only a small group of patients have started the process to receive the new gene therapies for sickle cell disease, says Kevin Niehoff, Pharm.D., of IPD Analytics.

The 2024 increase is the same as last year's increase for family coverage. The foundation’s annual survey of employer health benefits also found that only 18% of large employers (200 employees are more) are covering the GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

Studies measuring patient preference stacked up in subcutaneous administration’s favor, according to a recently published review. The difference between subcutaneous and intravenous administration were less clear cut among the studies measuring health-related quality of life.

More research on clinical meaningfulness is on the way, according to Stephanie Graff, M.D., FACP, FASCO.

People living with HIV in neighborhoods that had been redlined by federal housing officials had a longer time interval between HIV diagnosis and achievement of viral suppression, a marker of successful treatment and access to healthcare, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The International AIDS Society's meeting, AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference, was held July 22-26 in Munich, Germany. Approximately 10,000 people attended the meeting, the largest in the world devoted to HIV and AIDS. Many of the sessions were live streamed and could be viewed remotely. Here is a sample of our coverage of the meeting.

The American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) held its annual scientific meeting July 17-20 in Stockholm, Sweden. Here is a sample of our coverage.

Stephanie Graff, M.D., FACP, FASCO, director of breast oncology at the Lifespan Cancer Institute, explains the importance of the term “clinically meaningful” and shares some of the ways it can be defined.