The rule requires pharmacy benefit managers to disclose rebates and discounts, money made from spread pricing and incentives for formulary placement.
News|Videos|April 28, 2025
Brad McElya, Pharm.D., on Drug Approvals and First-in-Class Drugs | Asembia's AXS25 Summit
Author(s)Peter Wehrwein, Managing Editor
McElya, senior director, clinical pharmacy at Walgreens, notes that approximately half of the drugs approved by the FDA last year were first-in-class drugs.
Advertisement
In a second segment from an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive before he gave his drug pipeline talk today at Asembia's AXS25 Summit in Las Vegas, Brad McElya, Pharm.D., senior director, clinical pharmacy, at Walgreens, discussed focusing on drugs that are "first in class" — the drugs that work in a new way to tackle a disease. He noted that 24 of the 50 novel drugs approved by the FDA last year were first-in-class medications. McElya mentioned the 2024 approval of Rezdiffra (resmetirom), a treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and that he expected to see "some activity" in MASH treatment in this year's pipeline. He said he also expected to see some first-in-class treatments of hemophilia and also "brain penetrants."
Advertisement
Related to this article
As pulmonary fibrosis treatment options grow, Rachael Prusi of Prime Therapeutics says health plans should lean on guidelines and strong case management.
Patients with pulmonary fibrosis wait about two years for a diagnosis. Rachael Prusi of Prime Therapeutics explains how health plans can find them sooner.
The FDA has approved three HIV products since June 2025, and the late-stage pipeline is testing how far apart doses can be spaced. Here are the milestones payers and health systems should track through 2027.
Hiva Pourarsalan at AMCP Nexus explains how MFP shifts Medicare drug pricing, disrupting rebates and contracting and forcing payers to rethink formularies.
EHRs miss many cancer deaths. Linking electronic health records with claims and third‑party death data sharply improves accuracy, Tempus reports at AMCP Nexus.
CMS projects roughly 2.3 million people will lose Medicaid coverage in 2027 under the new community engagement requirements, also referred to as work requirements: four in ten to paperwork, not noncompliance. Arkansas showed how that happens; here is what plans can learn before the clock starts.
Managed care leaders should vet AI tools before use and recheck them over time, and pharmacists need AI literacy, according to two AMCP Nexus 2026 presenters.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Trending on Managed Healthcare Executive
1
5 things you should know about the midterms and healthcare
2
Prime's Pat Gleason flags cost, timing gaps in type 1 diabetes screening | AMCP Nexus 2026
3
2.3 million reasons to rethink member communications before Jan. 1
4
5 things you should know about intismeran, the Moderna-Merck cancer vaccine
5