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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.

Cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta gets expanded indication for children ages 2-5.

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.

Despite having a highly differentiated clinical value proposition compared to branded, twice-nightly oxybates, Avadel is pricing Lumryz at $64.67 per gram or around $177,034 annually, which is on par with twice-nightly oxybate products that require chronic, middle-of-the-night awakening.

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.

Daybue (trofinetide) is the first treatment for Rett syndrome. The pivotal trial for treatment for a lifelong condition was only 12 weeks long.

More than two-thirds (68%) of the respondents to the survey expressed confidence that the COVID-19 is "behind us." An overwhelming majority (80%), though, indicated that annual COVID-19 vaccination will be needed for the foreseeable future.

Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec), the gene therpay for hemophilia A, gets nods as holding the most promise among the drugs in the pipeline.

Aside most of the 311 respondents to the 2023 Annual Managed Healthcare Executive Pharmacy Survey favoring PBMs, two-thirds indicated they favor restrictions on rebates and discounts so PBMs won’t favor drugs with high discounts. A similar proportion favor transparency rules that would require disclosure of rebates and discounts.

Results show that beliefs about biosimilars are mixed

Vast majority of respondents indicate that CMS price negotiation is a positive development

COVID-19 is viewed as the condition putting the most upward pressure on drug expenditures, but over the next five years, respondents are eyeing migraine and hematologic cancers.

CDI is a leading cause of infections acquired in healthcare settings, including hospitals and nursing homes. After recovering, individuals may get the infection again, and the risk of recurrence increases with each infection.

The list price for Qalsody, the first and only approved treatment to target a genetic cause of ALS, may prove to be controversial.

The 2024 expansion includes 28 new health centers total to four states.

The average annual healthcare spending for people with employer-sponsored insurance spending increased to $6,467 in 2021 from $5,630 in 2020. Per person healthcare spending increased 15% in 2021, following a 4% decrease in 2020.

The American Hospital Association said the health insurers' report on drug prices, which highlights the higher prices charged by hospitals, is “a blatant attempt to deflect from the obvious — insurance companies continue to raise premiums for their enrollees and employer clients while pocketing billions in profit.”

Biden's bid for re-election, AHIP takes on Pharma and the digital health's equity problems

In 2019 there were roughly 183,000 deaths associated with poverty in the U.S. among people 15 years and older. This is a significant result as the data is from the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when death rates skyrocketed.

HHS released the data earlier this week, which makes it the first time anyone can review the information on the ownership of more than 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies.

Medicare Advantage plans have been associated with increased screening rates. But managed care tactics and narrow networks may be a disadvantage for people needing care.

The expansion offers increased reimbursement opportunities and additional care services to rural independent pharmacies. In addition, it creates an Independent Pharmacy Advisory Committee to expand the role of rural, suburban and urban pharmacies in the healthcare system.

In this final part of a two-part video series, Clay Wilemon, CEO of 4L Data Intelligence, shared how much in cost that fraud, waste and abuse has affected healthcare due to issues like overpayment; and how leveraging your artificial intelligence can help solve fraudulent issues. Clay added how much the industry can save using these solutions.

Omisirge is a stem cell therapy that helps the body recover more quickly from cancer treatments that kill normal blood cells along with blood cancer cells, thus lowering the risk of infection.