Analysis

Informa Connect's Hub and Specialty Pharmacy Models West

Delivered as a Hybrid Event

September 14-15, 2022
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina | San Diego, CA
www.informaconnect.com/hub-specialty-pharmacy-west

Drug Channels readers will save 10% off the current registration rate when they use code 22DC10*.

This important event convenes key stakeholders including manufacturers, specialty pharmacies, hub providers and more for unrivaled collaboration to leverage innovation and optimize access. Harness data-driven tech offerings to combat the urgent public health crisis and provide patients and stakeholders with unrivaled support services in an all-encompassing state-of-the-art hub.

Featured Presentations Include:

• Building a True Hub in Cell Therapy and Specific Disease States
• End-to-End Launch Excellence
• Changes to Medicare Part D – Pricing Transparency Panel
• Problem Solving Copay: Accumulators and Maximizers
• Embracing Alternative Forms of Interaction with Patients Compliantly
• HIPAA Enforcement Updates: Best Practices Intersecting with Privacy, Cyber Security, EHR Incentive Programs
• Profiling Partner Expectations and Excellence: What Makes a Good Vendor Partner in Hub Services?
• Leveraging AI and Predictive Analytics to Meet the Consumer at the Moment of Decision Making
• EHR Systems Imbedding Services to Automate and Drive Capabilities
• ePrior Authorization – 2023 Challenges: Release of Biosimilars
• Helping Manufacturers Monitor, Manage, and Audit 340b Purchases

Back by Popular Demand:

• State of the Industry – Public Health Crisis
• Problem Solving Copay: Accumulators and Maximizers
• Luminary Keynote Address and Patient Perspective: Pricing

Featured Speakers:

• John M. O’Brien, Pharm. D., M.P.H., President and CEO, National Pharmaceutical Council
• Julie Ritchie Wagner, Senior Assistant General Counsel, Head of Global Ethics, Compliance, and Enforcement Legal Policy, PhRMA
• Joel White, Founder and President, Horizon Government Affairs
• Charlene Keller Fullmer, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief, Affirmative Litigation, US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Rachael Honig, Former Acting U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office District of NJ
• Jason Gould, Chief of the Healthcare Fraud Unit, U.S. Attorney’s Office District of NJ
• Gustav W. Eyler, Director, Consumer Protection Branch, U.S. Department of Justice
• Tom Tsillpetros, Senior Director of Patient and Provider Support and Specialty Pharmacy Relations, Fresenius Kabi
• Tricia Sterling, Vice President Patient Affairs, Aeglea
• Alicia Dixon, Sr. Director, Cell Therapy Operations and Patient Services, Gamida Cell
• Austin Fisher, Executive Director, CART Patient Support and Distribution, Autolus
• Chris Boneham, Vice President Market Access U.S., Y-mAbs Therapeutics
• Lakia Lewis-Latin, Associate Director, Program Management Strategy, Abbvie
• Sneha Dave, Executive Director, Generation Patient
• John Klimek, Senior Vice President, Standards & IT, NCPDP
• Pearl Pearson, Senior Director of Patient Support Services Dermatology, Respiratory and GI, Sanofi
• Jamie Anderson, CMA, AAMA, Prior Authorization Specialist, Biologics Coordinator, Cary Dermatology Center
• Kimberly Green Weir, Director, Specialty Drug Operations, Jazz Pharmaceuticals

View the full agenda and save your seat today!

Drug Channels readers will save 10% off the current registration rate when they use code 22DC10*.

*Offer applies to current rates only and may not be combined with other offers, category rates, promotions or applied to an existing registration. Offer not valid on workshop only or academic/non-profit registrations.

---

The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees. To find out how you can promote an event on Drug Channels, please contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannels.net).

Today’s guest post comes from Akeel Williams, VP of Strategy and Operations, Pharma Manufacturer Solutions at GoodRx

Akeel provides an overview of GoodRx’s Pharma Manufacturer Solutions business. He describes how GoodRx leverages its consumer reach to help biopharma companies boost awareness and utilization of manufacturers’ copay assistance programs.

Click here to learn more about GoodRx’s patient awareness, access, and adherence solutions.

Read on for Akeel’s insights.

The boom in copay accumulators and maximizers has radically shifted payers’ views on manufacturers’ copay support programs for specialty drugs.

Below, I review a new survey of commercial plan sponsors and contrast the findings to a comparable survey from 2018. As you will see, plan sponsors now perceive manufacturers’ copay support patient assistance programs primarily as a source of funding for their own plans. This change in perspective has overtaken plan sponsors’ traditional views that copay programs disrupt formularies.

The accumulator/maximizer boom may soon start to slow. States are banning accumulators, the Medicaid accumulator rule has been blocked, and manufacturers are altering their copay programs. Plan sponsors may want to reconsider their beliefs before getting too comfortable with their copay money grab.

Dr. Adam J. Fein, CEO of Drug Channels Institute (DCI) and the author of Drug Channels, invites you to join him for a new video webinar:

Specialty Drugs Update: Trends, Controversies, and Outlook
This event will be broadcast live on July 29, 2022,
from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET

This article describes the event and explains how to purchase a registration to participate in the event.

This event is part of The Drug Channels 2022 Video Webinar Series. Anyone who registered for the entire series will receive an email with a link to access the July event.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Join Dr. Fein as he helps you and your team stay on top of the latest trends, market data, and strategies for specialty drugs. He will draw from exclusive information found in DCI’s industry economic reports.

During the event, Dr. Fein will cover a wide range of topics, including:

• Specialty drugs in pharmacy vs. medical benefits

• How plan sponsors are managing specialty benefits

• Distribution channels to providers, pharmacies, and patients

• DCI’s latest data on the specialty market position of distributors, pharmacies, and PBMs

• The latest on copay accumulators and maximizers

• Specialty carve-out and alternative funding programs

• Buy-and-bill trends

• The 340B Drug Pricing Program and specialty drugs

• Drug pricing controversies and policy debates

• And more!

PLUS: During the webinar, Dr. Fein will give participants an opportunity to unmute themselves and ask live questions.

As always, Dr. Fein will clearly distinguish his opinions and interpretations from the objective facts and data.

Read on for full details on pricing and registration.

I can’t recall any period in my life when our country has been so divided and polarized. Through the Drug Channels Institute, I strive to provide you with fact-based and balanced coverage—along with links to source materials so you can make up your own mind.

So before you launch your July 4 festivities and/or a civil war, Drug Channels humbly offers some data fireworks for our troubled nation:

• More evidence of slow growth in drug spending for 2021

• Fresh data on skyrocketing PBM formulary exclusions

• Employers still hoarding rebates

• Pharmacy pricing in the era of GoodRx

Plus, Dr. Glaucomflecken continues his humorous assault on insurance prior authorizations.

P.S. Join my nearly 29,000 LinkedIn followers for daily links to neat stuff. You can also find my daily posts at @DrugChannels on Twitter, where I have nearly 14,500 followers.

Today’s guest post comes from Logan Melchione, Senior Director of Account Management at Paysign.

Logan describes how some patient affordability vendors capture funds that were intended for patients. She then provides manufacturers with ideas to better manage and oversee copay, bridge, and voucher programs.

To learn more, register for Paysign’s July 13 webinar: Affording Patient Affordability Programs: The Truth About Voucher and Bridge Pricing.

Read on for Logan’s insights.

Recently, I explored the complex web of relationships and conflicts that support today’s discount card economics. See The GoodRx-Kroger Blowup: Spread Pricing, Pharmacy Margins, and the Future of Discount Cards.

In the video below, I discuss how generic drug pricing and the rise of patient-paid, discount card prescriptions pose a risk to pharmacy benefit plans and the PBM business. I also highlight the odd relationship between Prime Therapeutics, Amazon Pharmacy, Express Scripts, and five Blues plans.

The video is excerpted from my PBM Industry Update: Trends, Controversies, and Outlook video webinar. If you missed the live event, you can register to watch a replay.

Enjoy!

National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) 2022 Annual Meeting & Expo
September 19-22, 2022 | Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center | Orlando, FL
www.naspnet.org/annualmeeting

The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) will host the NASP 2022 Annual Meeting & Expo September 19-22. NASP will celebrate their 10th Anniversary and welcome attendees to a new conference venue – the gorgeous Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, located in Orlando, Florida.

Register today for this premier industry event!

The conference agenda is jam-packed and offers something for everyone, whether you are new to the industry or a seasoned expert.

Conference highlights include:

• 40+ unique educational sessions organized into four dynamic tracks to help you focus on what is most important to you
• Continuing education credits for pharmacists, nurses, and technicians
• THREE KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
• Montel Williams, an Emmy Award winner, decorated former naval officer, inspirational speaker, author, entrepreneur, multiple sclerosis patient and advocate for patients worldwide
• Justin Patton, executive coach, will lead the conference in challenging attendees to Reimagine What’s Possible
• Monica Pearson, distinguished journalist and humanitarian, and the first woman and first minority to anchor the daily evening news in Atlanta, Georgia
• Six pre-conference workshops: Accreditation Workshop (1/2 day), Certified Specialty Pharmacist (CSP) Exam Preparation Course, Home Infusion Workshop (1/2 day), Hospital/Health Systems Specialty Pharmacy Workshop, Specialty Pharmacy Law Conference, and Technology Day Workshop (additional fee required for workshops)
• Dynamic Exhibit Hall featuring exhibitors representing all specialty pharmacy industry stakeholders
• The ever-popular Women in Specialty Pharmacy Luncheon, featuring motivational keynote speaker Amelia Rose Earhart (additional fee required)
• Educate to Cultivate Networking Event -- reconnect with industry colleagues and friends over lunch and learn more about Florida’s oldest industry and time-honored tradition, the authentic and skilled art of cigar rolling (additional fee required)
• CE satellite symposia
• Poster presentations and author discussions
• NASP Industry Awards presentations
• The NASP Ron Bookman Scholarship Awards
• Direct interaction with industry thought leaders and experts
• Ample networking opportunities
• 10th Anniversary Gala Celebration

Register today for this premier industry event!

---

The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees. To find out how you can promote an event on Drug Channels, please contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannels.net).

Today’s guest post comes from Shawn Seamans, Chief Commercial Officer at CoverMyMeds.

Shawn discusses how technology can be combined with human intervention to better help patients access, afford, and adhere to their therapies. He then describes how three patients benefited from support solutions.

For more information about how CoverMyMeds’ solutions can support the patient journey for your brand, visit their digital commercialization experience.

Read on for Shawn’s insights.

Last week, the authors of a new JAMA study claimed that “prices for new drugs are skyrocketing.” Their research, along with a simultaneously released New York Times op-ed, received widespread media coverage. Links below.

But as I explain, the study’s headline conclusion is highly misleading. The authors obscure the real story with mathematical sleight-of-hand that misrepresents the underlying data and overlooks the true nature of today’s pharmaceutical innovations.

Most notably, the authors discount the fact that the most expensive new drugs treat ultra-rare conditions affecting extraordinarily small patient populations. Their policy recommendations would therefore have a devastating impact on these patients and their hope for treatments and cures.

As Nobel prize winner Ronald Coase observed: “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.” Read on and consider what the data are really saying.