Specialty Pharmacy Trend Expected to Grow in the Health System Space

Article

Mark Eastham, BS, RPh, Senior Vice President of McKesson RxO, discusses the growth of specialty pharmacy in the health system space.

Mark Eastham, BS, RPh, Senior Vice President of McKesson RxO, discusses the growth of specialty pharmacy in the health system space.

Transcript

"With the specialty pharmacy drugs, what we're seeing more and more is more of these products are coming out onto the market, you know these biotechnology type drugs. What's important about them is they target certain disease states. And so they're very good drugs because what we're finding in some cases they can cure diseases, such as some cancers or other disease such as within neurology, but they're very expensive. We're going to continue to see this trend. So I think, what I like to say is it's the new norm quite frankly as we continue to see this growth. Since these drugs are bioengineered, they cost more and what also comes with them is more regulations around how you need to take care of that patient. So more and more we see limited distribution networks, so it's a challenge sometimes for health-system pharmacies to get these drugs and dispense these drugs. And we also see limited payer networks.So in the health system space, I would say that we're a little late getting into this game. So unfortunately, these specialty pharmacies have captured a lot of this market share, but more and more they're going to manufacturers and being succesful to say 'hey, who's better to take care of this patient than us, the health system, where they first come for their care'. So in this area, they're getting accredited in specialty pharmacy, in the right clinical regimens and employees in place where they can take care of these patients. So I think we'll continue to see this trend in the health system space."

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