Asembia’s Specialty Pharmacy Summit

The retired four-start Navy admiral shared lessons learned from his training as a Navy SEAL and other parts of his life in his keynote address.

Optum and Takeda executives discuss their efforts to collaborate on implementing a value-based care for people with inflammatory bowel disease.

The growth in spending on the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists is a “mega tsunami,” said Doug Long, MBA, vice president industry relations for IQVIA. The script that specialty drugs are the main drivers of U.S. drug expenditures may need some revision.

How the Inflation Reduction Act is implemented and the role of pharmacy benefit managers in drug pricing are likely to be two areas that could look very different after the 2024 election.

In a discussion with Managed Healthcare Executive, Cate Lockhart, Pharm.D., Ph.D., executive director, Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium, talks about the disappointment surrounding the uptake of Humira biosimilars.

In a discussion with Managed Healthcare Executive, Cate Lockhart, Pharm.D., Ph.D., executive director, Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium, talks about whether or not she favors ending interchangeability designation for biosimilars.

Cencora’s Corey Ford says after the IRA’s out-of-pocket cap goes into effect next year, Part D plans are expected to put in place more narrow drug coverage and pharma companies will likely face a more competitive environment.

Physician shortages and retail pharmacy closures are creating areas without access to healthcare in rural regions and inner cities, warns Luke Greenwalt, vice president, market access, at IQVIA.

Newly launched drugs coming are facing payer controls and other hurdles, says Luke Greenwalt, vice president, market access, at IQVIA.

Tasmina Hydery, Pharm.D., MBA, associate director, digital solutions, Cencora, spoke with MHE editors about the slow uptake of HUMIRA biosimilars despite there being 10 approved options on the market.

The way the drugs have taken off, combined with the number of people in the U.S. who are obese, have made the GLP-1s "an acute problem for every U.S. payer,” says George Van Antwerp, MBA, a manager director at Deloitte.

The GLP-1s and some of the migraine drugs are included in this category of drugs that are priced to cost between $5,000 and $15,000 a year and are dispensed at a retail pharmacies, George Van Antwerp, MBA, a managing director at Deloitte, explains.

GLP-1s, artificial intelligence and the Inflation Reduction Act are among the topics featured in the education sessions of the specialty pharmacy meeting in Las Vegas. The keynote speaker is William McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former chancellor of the University of Texas system.

Over 7,000 people attended the meeting in Las Vegas this week.

Ed Paiewonsky, Director, Medical Outcomes Science Liaison at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, discussed results of the Alnylam Rare Disease Trend report at this year's Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

Elizabeth Johnson, CEO of MedicoCX shared the importance of trust in healthcare and how it's been missing in drug development, marketing and delivery. Johnson said one way drug companies could build trust is including patients sooner so they're part of the process beyond clinical trials.

Kelsey Lang, principal of Avalere, breaks down the three provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was discussed today at the annual Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas.

Connie Sullivan, president and CEO of the National Home Infusion Association, addressed the benefits of home-based infusion care, the types of treatments offered to patients and its reimbursement considerations. Sullivan presented on this form of care during the Asembia 2023 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Vegas this week.

Ray Tancredi, VP of Walgreens mentioned in the last decade or so there have been many oncology drug approvals. Over time, the number of approvals decreased each year.

Cate Lockhart, executive director of the Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium, shared results yesterday of a survey that look at biosimilars on the pharmacy benefit side of coverage versus medical benefit. The survey also shared how payers and those on the pharmaceutical side are anticipating the introduction of Adalimumab (Humira®), as well as what to look for in the future of the biosimilar pipeline.

But payers may be putting undue emphasis on interchangeability, said a panelist at session on biosimilars at the 2023 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

Adam Fein, Ph.D., talked about some surprising trends in specialty pharmacy and healthcare at the 2023 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit. The number of specialty pharmacy locations may be peaking. And that "gross-to-net bubble" in drug prices that Fein has written about so much — well, it may be shrinking.

Today at the annual Asembia Specialty Summit in Las Vegas, Sarah Marche, VP of Pharmacy at Highmark Health, spoke alongside other professionals from various stakeholders within the industry who are invested some way in digital therapeutics.

Today at Asembia 2023 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas, Alexander Pham, VP of Client Services & Strategy at Clearway Health, talked about their collaboration with safety net hospital, OU Health, alongside the Chief Administrative Officer of OU Health, Jigar Thakkar. In this interview, Pham talked about how the Clearway and OU Health partnership helped build a specialty pharmacy program, alleviate financial burden, and more.

Ray Tancredi talked about the upcoming pipeline and more in this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive.

“It was like, we’re going to take off your head, we are going to come after you,” said Seema Verma, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator in the Trump administration, during an on-stage interview at the 2023 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

A relatively small number of cell and gene therapies have become a clinical reality. But now the specialty pharmacy industry, and healthcare more generally, is bracing for a wave of cell and gene therapies that will force change and adaption. And, yes, the new therapies will be extremely costly.

A little-known provision of the Inflation Reduction Act will allow people with Part D coverage to "smooth out" their annual out-of-pocket costs as an average payment over months.