Looking Into the 'Rich' Biosimilar Landscape with Cate Lockhart of BBCIC | Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit

Vanderbilt’s Stacie Dusetzina and colleagues explain how the ‘copay adjustment’ programs work in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine and also shed light on third strategy used by insurers and pharmaceutical benefit managers, the alternative payment program.

In this month’s episode of the "What's On Your Mind podcast," Peter Wehrwein, managing editor of MHE connects with the now Chief Clinical Officer of OptumRx Integrated Pharmacies, David Calabrese. In this conversation, David touches on his transition in January as OptumRx’s former chief pharmacy officer and market president of health plans and PBMs to his new role as Chief Clinical Officer where he now focuses more on things such as specialty pharmacy to home delivery — with an overall goal of creating whole-patient care. Throughout the conversation, Calabrese also touched on the market’s hot topic of insulin prices and behavioral health services within the OptumRx community, among other topics.

Neal Dave, executive director of Pharmacy at Texas Oncology, explained that medically related pharmacies are truly an integrated team.

Briana Contreras, editor of Managed Healthcare Executive, spoke with Nancy Lurker, CEO and president of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals. Nancy shared a bit about EyePoint and how the organization’s innovative therapies are addressing patient needs through eye care, and most importantly, she addressed C-Suite positions like the CEO role. Nancy shared advice for those seeking to reach the CEO level, especially toward women in healthcare and other roles, and what it takes to run a biopharma company.

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.

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