Analysis

Last week, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) held its latest quarterly earnings call. (See links below for materials.)

Its new Valeant deal was a hot topic for investors. Management took great care to assure Wall Street that it was not becoming Philidor RX V2.0 and dismissed any risks to its reputation. The top execs also highlighted the Valeant deal’s similarities to WBA’s European arrangements with generic manufacturers. So nothing to see here, move along?

WBA also gave a quick update on the Rite Aid deal, which it expects to complete by the second half of 2016, and made a few cryptic statements about “vertical integration.”

Below, I highlight and comment on intriguing comments from Stefano Pessina, WBA’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Alex Gourlay, Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and President of Walgreens. Fun stuff.

sPCMA Business Forum
February 8 & 9
JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes | Orlando, FL

This February, I hope you will join me at the 2016 sPCMA Business Forum. More than a thousand executives will meet to discuss the rapidly-evolving specialty pharmacy industry.

I’ll be participating on a panel titled “Defining and Differentiating the Many Types of Specialty Pharmacies,” with Bill Martin, Vice President, Pharma Strategy and Account Management, Express Scripts, and Mike Zeglinski, Senior Vice President, Specialty Pharmacy, OptumRx. There will be many other interesting sessions, too. See the online agenda for full details on sessions and speakers.

DETAILS FROM PCMA

Kicking off with a Super Bowl Party on Sunday evening, February 7 and ending with a Dessert Reception Tuesday evening February 9, the 2016 sPCMA Business Forum is designed to offer unparalleled business networking and invaluable specialty pharmacy education.

From an educational standpoint, the sPCMA’s speakers are among the industry's top thought leaders. When it comes to networking and conducting meetings, the Business Forum attracts the highest number of executives and decision makers from PBMs and the nation's largest specialty pharmacies of any industry conference.

Speakers include:

• Michael Anderson, Chief Pharmacy Officer, Medicare and Retirement, UnitedHealthcare
• Steve Avey, Vice President, Specialty Pharmacy, MedImpact
• Chris Bradbury, Senior Vice President, Integrated Clinical Solutions and Specialty Pharmacy, Cigna Pharmacy Management
• Mary Dorholt, Senior Director and Clinical Practice Lead, Specialty, Express Scripts
• Adam Fein, President, Pembroke Consulting
• Ronny Gal, Senior Analyst, Global Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Sanford Bernstein
• David Galardi, Vice President, Worldwide Managing Director, Apogenics
• Pat Gleason, Director, Health Outcomes, Prime Therapeutics
• Brian Kelly, President, Optum Life Sciences
• Mike Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director, Oncology Solutions Office, Aetna
• Doug Long, Vice President, Industry Relations, IMS Health
• Bill Martin, Vice President, Pharma Strategy and Account Management, Express Scripts
• Everett Neville, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Express Scripts
• Lee Newcomer, Senior Vice President, Oncology, Genetics and Women's Health, UnitedHealthcare
• Josh Ofman, MD, Senior Vice President, Global Value, Access and Policy, Amgen
• George Paz, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Express Scripts, and PCMA Chairman of the Board
• Steve Pearson, President, Institute for Clinical and Economic Review
• Kent Rogers, Principal Consultant, Blue Fin Group
• Jason Rucker, Director, Trade Research, Zitter Health Insights
• Bill Sarraille, Partner, Sidley Austin
• Brian Solow, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Optum Life Sciences
• Debbie Stern, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, eviCore Healthcare
• Farrah Wong, Manager, Drug Safety and Pipeline, OptumRx
• Mike Zeglinski, Senior Vice President, Specialty Pharmacy, OptumRx

More than eight hours of CPE sessions will be offered as part of the program.

Contact PCMA | Conference Overview | Who Should Attend | Registration Information |
Hotel Information | Conference Agenda | Confirmed Speakers and CPE Information

The New Year is here—let’s kick it off with some good news/bad news for pharmacists.

According to our exclusive analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) new Occupational Outlook Handbook, drugstores are projected to employ about 7,000 fewer pharmacists in 2024 than they do today.

The good news? Pharmacists jobs in non-retail settings—hospitals, doctor’s office, and clinics—will add more jobs than the ones lost from retail.

Read on for our exclusive analysis of these data. And if you are a pharmacist: Plan accordingly! (Have you considered whether a career as a wind turbine service technician or commercial diver is right for you?)

Brand & Portfolio Management for Specialty Products Summit
February 25-26, 2016 | Philadelphia, PA
www.exlevents.com/specialty

Based on industry feedback, ExL’s Brand & Portfolio Management for Specialty Products Summit is designed to help you manage products that require special storage, handling, monitoring and distribution from launch through maturation. Join ExL for beneficial presentations and interactive discussions led by executives from leading specialty manufacturers.

Hear from representatives of Actelion, BioBlast Pharma, Chiesi, Edge Therapeutics, Genentech, Kadmon Pharmaceuticals, Medac, Pacira, XenoPort and other organizations!

Join ExL for the following sessions:

• Evaluate the Competitive Landscape to Determine the Ideal Launch Strategy
• Educate Clinicians on the Benefits of Your Product over the Competition
• Don’t Just Be Efficacy-Driven, Be Value-Driven: Understand What Your Customers Want from Your Product Beyond Effective Treatment
• Leverage Analytical Insights to Strategically Expand Access

Plus, gain insights from a specialty pharmacy on how to create mutually beneficial partnerships based on their firsthand experience.

For more information, please download the brochure or visit the event homepage.

As a member of the Drug Channels community, register using discount code C796DC for a 15% discount.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees.

Whew. It was quite a year—one filled with big deals, big news, and a very memorable lap dance from the incomparable Amy Schumer! (Plus, we raised $8,000 for charity!)

Drug Channels had another big year. We now have more than 12,000 subscribers, including almost 2,400 @DrugChannels Twitter followers. In 2015, total page views will exceed 700,000—up 20% compared with 2014.

Thank you for welcoming me into your inboxes and browsers. I’ve had fun and hope you did, too. I’m grateful to our many sponsors and guest writers. Special thanks to the brave souls who joined in the spirited discussions below the articles.

Below you’ll find a bonus stocking stuffer: the Drug Channels Update: Things to Watch in 2016 slides from my recent keynote presentation to a group of trade and channel executives from pharmaceutical manufacturers. It’s a sneak peek at some of next year's likely hot topics.

Drug Channels will return in 2016! In the meantime, please enjoy a video of me dancing with Paula, my wife and business partner.

Wishing you and your family health and happiness,
Adam

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals just announced a very intriguing preferred pharmacy network for Valeant’s branded products. Patients and payers will pay lower prices for Valeant products that are filled at Walgreens or other to-be-named-later independent pharmacies. Read the press release. (I presume we’ll learn a lot more about the deal at Valeant’s investor meeting today.)

Read on for my observations on this novel arrangement. The deal offers clear business benefits for both companies—while helping them overcome their respective PR deficits. With this preferred network arrangement, both Valeant and WBA get to do a partial end-run around payers. What’s more, it suggests that a new marketing model for generic prescriptions could emerge.

I’m not so sure, however, that payers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) will be so enthusiastic about these channel innovations.

December at last! It’s time for our final news roundup of 2015. Before you hit the mall, check out this hand-picked selection of notable news stories from around the Drug Channels universe.

• AmerisourceBergen CEO Steve Collis reflects on his first four years

• Beware! Consumers should watch out for overpriced pharmacies

• Will Santa bring us the Average Manufacturer Price (AMP) Final Rule?

Plus, the Walgreens Community Theater Players perform an unintentionally hilarious skit touting preferred pharmacies in Medicare Part D. As my kids say: LOL.

P.S. For news and other stuff that I find cool and interesting, follow @DrugChannels on Twitter.

PAP 2016 – 17th Patient Assistance & Access Programs
March 8-9, 2016 | Baltimore, MD
www.cbinet.com/PAP

Now in its 17th year, CBI’s Patient Assistance and Access Programs PAP Meeting remains the largest and most meaningful meeting of its kind for manufacturers, co-pay foundations, non-profits, free clinics, advocacy organizations, hospitals and service providers working on meeting the needs of the uninsured and underinsured population. Join CBI for action-oriented discussions, community-based dialogue and the opportunity to weigh in on points of progress that need to transpire moving forward.

This year’s meeting provides pivotal insights from more than 60 of the nation’s leading experts on strategies for reaching beyond traditional models for patient assistance and access.

For more information, please download the complete agenda or visit www.cbinet.com/PAP. Drug Channels readers will save $400 off of the standard registration rate when they use code JQZ974.*

*Cannot be combined with other offers or used towards a current registration. Cannot be combined with special category rates or applied to non-profit pricing – non-profit groups should contact Roberts Apse at Roberts.Apse@cbinet.com or 339-298-2290 for special rates. All discounts are taken off the full, standard rate. Other restrictions may apply.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees.

Last week, the econowonks at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2014 National Health Expenditure data, which are the definitive source for U.S. healthcare spending data. Savor the numbers in the Health Affairs article National Health Spending In 2014: Faster Growth Driven By Coverage Expansion And Prescription Drug Spending. (Free download)

In 2014, net spending on outpatient prescription drugs hit $297.7 billion. For the first time since 2009, drug spending growth exceeded national healthcare spending growth. Below, I delve into who paid for these prescription drugs. A big surprise: Public sources exceeded employer-sponsored private insurance for the first time since the 1960s.

On the plus side, due to data revisions, 2014 drug spending was $7.4 billion less than CMS had projected back in July.

Read on for my detailed look at trends in who really pays for our country's prescriptions drugs.

Modern Distribution Management just published my article 2015 MDM Market Leaders | Top Pharmaceuticals Distributors. It is an excerpt from the 2015-16 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.

Below, I republish the section highlighting five significant industry trends affecting the U.S. drug wholesaling industry. I think Drug Channels readers will enjoy this summary.

Tomorrow, I'll be giving the keynote address at CBI's 11th Trade and Channel Strategies conference. Hope to see you there!

Bonus wholesaler trivia question: In 2010, which prominent drug wholesaler CEO wanted Donald Trump to run for President? (Answer below!)