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Cutting edge specialty offerings

Innovative offerings from a variety of players are available to help specialty retailers.
Levy

The specialty medicine segment is having its moment. It now accounts  for 51% of spending, up from 32% in 2012, driven by growth in immunology and oncology, according to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science’s “The Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2023” report.

What’s more, the specialty share of net spending across institutional and retail settings rose from 35% in 2013 to 51% in 2022, driven by innovation and the declining share for traditional medicines, as growth has slowed due to higher off-invoice discounts and rebates and patent expirations.

[Read more: Personalizing the pharmacy experience]

The report also noted that the largest proportion of new medicines launched in the past decade has been specialty drugs, and specialty spending per person has nearly doubled from $338 in 2013 to $662 in 2022, while traditional net medicine spending has declined by $16 per person over the same period.

The burgeoning specialty market has many retail players  that are aiming to be successful in providing patients with these medications. 

[Read more: DSN webinar: Panelists weigh in on pharmacists' expanded role as providers]

Here are some innovative offerings that are available to help specialty retailers:

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camber logo
camber logo

Camber | Piscataway, N.J.

Camber has made a commitment to launching a deep pipeline of specialty products with dosage forms that include injectable, ophthalmic, infusion and oral solids. Camber’s parent company, Hetero, can produce 90 million units of liquid injectables, 60 million units of lyophilized injectables and 20 million units of powder injectables per year. Camber Specialty will support the increasing demand for these products by providing hospitals, clinics, government facilities and other institutional partners with high-quality generic choices.

“Communication and transparency are at the core of Camber’s commitment to partnership. Our strategic account management teams enhance collaboration and information flow with our partners. One of our most important goals is to mitigate risk for our customers,” said Tom DeStefano, executive vice president of Camber Specialty. 

Oncology care remains at the heart of the organization’s goals for future products. The company has a deep pipeline of products within the therapeutic oncology drug class. Hetero is a global supplier of critical care products, including those used for rare disease therapies. Our institutional partners will benefit from Camber’s focus on bringing to market important generic injectable molecules.

tct logo
tct logo

The Compliance Team | Spring House, Pa.

Sandra Canally, founder and CEO of The Compliance Team, an accreditation organization, explained that pharmacies that provide specialty drugs and management of complex chronic conditions are bound to adhere to complicated protocols and must coordinate patient care with other healthcare professionals and entities to ensure safe, effective and optimal care.

“Care coordination and patient adherence is one of the most important sections in the specialty accreditation standards,” Canally said.

To that end, the section includes a detailed list of adherence requirements for the development of a plan of care, communication with other healthcare professionals and data reporting.

“The Compliance Team’s standards of excellence for specialty drug accreditation are comprehensive, yet simplified so that they are easy to understand and implement. Simplification leads to operational excellence. Operational excellence leads to clinical excellence. Clinical excellence benefits pharmacists, staff, related healthcare professionals and, most of all, patients,” Canally said.

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“In this rapidly changing landscape where specialty drugs are on the rise and reimbursement margins are declining, specialty pharmacies need more help than ever to meet growing demands.”
— Matthew Feltman, senior director division sales at EnlivenHealth
enlivenhealth
enlivenhealth

EnlivenHealth | Fort Worth, Texas 

Matthew Feltman, senior director division sales at EnlivenHealth said that more than 60% of drugs in the FDA approval pipeline are specialty medications. 

“In this rapidly changing landscape where specialty drugs are on the rise and reimbursement margins are declining, specialty pharmacies need more help than ever to meet growing demands,” said Feltman.

To meet emerging needs efficiently, specialty pharmacies must integrate technology and automation into patient care processes to address inefficiencies in therapy eligibility, medication authorizations, adherence, patient assistance and other requirements, Feltman noted. “Patient engagement technology can automate these processes, reducing speed-to-therapy and operational costs while meeting consumer expectations for convenience,” he said.

EnlivenHealth's Touchpoint Management suite is specifically designed for specialty pharmacies, enabling them to scale services without increasing headcount and enhancing bottom-line profitability. 

“The technology allows specialty pharmacy teams to focus on high-touch clinical services, while also providing self-service options for patients who prefer it. Touchpoint Management improves adherence, ensures ongoing accreditation, enhances medication access and ultimately boosts revenue and net promoter scores,” Feltman said.

follett
follett

Follett | Easton, Pa. 

Patient care is our top concern, and Follett medical-grade refrigerators and freezers are engineered to provide the highest safeguards for storing your medications and vaccines. The new Infinity Series refrigerators feature a patented “infinite” variable speed control technology, which delivers only the precise amount of refrigeration needed at any given time for optimal temperature performance.  

This new technology reduces noise and energy consumption without sacrificing the precise temperature uniformity, recovery and stability you need to protect the efficacy of your pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other valuable products requiring safe cold storage. Follett’s tried and true industry exclusive back plenum air distribution system, which delivers cold air to each storage level, further ensures consistent and precise temperatures throughout the storage cabinet.

Follett Infinity Series refrigerators have been tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 456, the new voluntary standard developed by the NSF Joint Committee, which defines temperature performance attributes and testing protocols for safe vaccine storage. For added protection, the touchscreen user interface features a full suite of user-programmable alarms, and the refrigerator can be equipped with a network interface card allowing you to stream temperature data to the cloud via Wi-Fi for remote monitoring. In addition, the use of a natural hydrocarbon, low GWP refrigerant supports environmental sustainability initiatives. 

Designed for long-term reliability and convenience, our new flexible storage system allows you to customize the configuration of your refrigerator to meet your changing needs. Choose from shelves, baskets, drawers or any combination of these interchangeable options that best meets your storage requirements.

Follett is committed to delivering high-performing refrigerators and freezers, distinctive in maintaining uncompromising performance and lasting peace of mind coupled with the outstanding service that health care expects. 

 

“Care coordination and patient adherence is one of the most important sections in the specialty accreditation standards.”
— Sandra Canally, founder and CEO of The Compliance Team
knapp
knapp

KNAPP | Kennesaw, Ga.

“KNAPP Pharmacy Systems continues to expand benefits for our Specialty Pharmacy customers with our A-3000 KNAPP-Store TWIN,” said Brian Sullivan, principal of pharmacy solutions, North America at KNAPP. Noting that this system provides the pharmacy with complete visualization of their inventory, both ambient and refrigerated, Sullivan explained that medications are automatically scanned for DSCSA and stored logically for automated FEFO dispense. 

“When married with our P2P systems, these meds are automatically labeled and verified,” Sullivan said. 

The pharmacy system is run by KNAPP’s KiSoft One Pharmacy Execution Software, which provides proactive guidance from order intake through order sortation. Integral to the system are the predictive redPILOT labor management module as well as the most granular maintenance systems available with KiSoft CMMS & SCADA.    

The end results, according to Sullivan, include a significant reduction in time for incoming medication put away, and picking and labeling medications; almost eliminating the time required for pharmacist verification; and a significant reduction in expired medications with higher order accuracy.

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