Asembia 2021: George Van Antwerp of Deloitte Dissects the Relationship Between Health Equity and Specialty Pharmacy

Politics and policies were among the main topics at the meeting in Las Vegas. But the 6,000 attendees also heard about biosimilars, the gross-to-net price gap and the ripple effects of the CMS’ Aduhelm coverage decision.

At the 2022 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit, healthcare policy experts at Avalere shared insights into the politics of a less ambitious Build Back Better bill and the healthcare provisions it might include. If a "skinny bill" doesn't get passed, the healthcare action of the Biden administration might shift to CMS Innovation Center and payment models, including a successor to the Oncology Care Model, they said.

Many patients don’t fill their prescriptions because of the cost. TailorMed is a software platform that connects patients to possible sources of financial assistance.

Drug manufacturers are challenging the discounted drug program, but if they are blamed for the closing of rural hospitals that depend on 340B funds, the challenge may have a serious downside, warned an expert on the program.

In a session on ecommerce and pharmacy, Amazon Pharmacy executives said they want to make the online pharmacy experience easy to navigate and pricing transparent.

In their general session, Adam J. Fein, PhD of Drug Channels Institute, and Doug Long of IQVIA reviewed the current specialty pharmacy space, ongoing trends and future expectations.