AscellaHealth Specialty Pharmacy Distribution & Market Access Webinar Highlights

Here’s an opportunity to catch up on highlights of last month’s compelling webinar offering innovative distribution and market access approaches in an evolving marketplace. Learn why pharmaceutical manufacturers are partnering with emerging vendors to overcome the unique market access challenges of rare disease and gene/cell therapies.

New complexities of commercialization and product access within the healthcare ecosystem will require pre-commercialization and market access strategies built to address key, emerging trends. Organizations must broaden their value propositions and management of the value chain.

Patients are assuming growing financial responsibilities, “footing the bill” for care and demanding personalized care and value. They want positive outcomes – not simply treatments. All stakeholders must demonstrate value, optimize patient access, face competition, align with payer treatment pathways and adjust to a new reimbursement model where payments are tied to outcomes.

Manufacturers must develop and optimize product distribution strategies for rare disease therapies. Specialty Pharmacy has four focus areas: pharmacy benefit, medical benefit, rare/ultra-orphan diseases, gene and cell therapy. Manufacturers are redefining their approach to product launch and market access, taking into account issues associated with prescribers, specialty pharmacy, infusion services, payer access and reimbursement. There is increased focus on value-based models, the shift away from deep rebate models, strict pricing and higher out-of-pocket expenses.

Novel pricing, reimbursement and financial strategies are bridging the gaps in market and patient access. Amid disruptive innovation, manufacturers will require greater support to improve R&D productivity, reduce costs, tap potential of emerging vendors and switch from selling medicines to managing outcomes. Benefits decision-makers will pay for results and outcomes, forcing pharmaceutical companies to move into the health management space and meet expectations of the Quintuple Aim: improving the patient experience with regard to quality and satisfaction in order to improve Population Health, reducing per capita cost of healthcare, improving provider satisfaction/ well-being and addressing social drivers of health.

A positive patient-first experience for the launch of cell and gene therapies spans customer strategy and analytics to distribution and comprehensive patient services. This demands a full understanding of current pharmaceutical trends, including increased pressure to demonstrate value, adjust to complex manufacturing and limited provider networks, remain flexible to innovative market access agreements, expect lagging reimbursement and be responsive to pricing dynamics. Rare Disease therapies differ from other therapy areas in how they are priced, reimbursed and managed as well as decision-making around treatment choice.

Optime Care helps biotech companies overcome the challenges of a rare disease product launch: end-to-end solutions, including early market insights and pre-commercialization service offerings, distribution and fulfillment capabilities, patient support solutions and access to robust data.

This integrated single-source model offers complete management by one vendor, resulting in efficiencies that impact Specialty Pharmacy, wholesaler contracting and distribution services. Optime Care serves as a HUB for patient management with consistent access to actionable data for strategic decision-making. A suite of comprehensive services offers economic advantages, stakeholder insights, customized patient programs, and simplified product flow to rare disease patients.

A final note: one significant market change noted by the presenters is the emergence of digital therapeutics (DTx) which are advancing rapidly to transform healthcare. They are projected to reach $13.1 billion by 2026 from $3.4 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 31.4%, with exclusive distribution models on the rise.