Specialty Rx: a bright spot in a slowing market

With total U.S. pharmaceutical sales rising just 3.8 percent last year, bio-engineered and highly specialized medicines costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year are the bright spot in a slowing market for branded drugs. And drug chains, led by Walgreens, are doing more to tap into these revolutionary treatments.

“Last year, we saw a continuing shift away from primary care classes to biotech and specialist-driven therapies, which grew at a 9 percent and 10 percent pace, respectively,” said Murray Aitken, senior vice president at IMS Health.

Summing up last year’s performance, IMS vice president of industry relations Doug Long noted, “Eighty-seven percent of the growth is coming from specialty-driven products, meaning prescriptions initiated by specialists. Now, we have almost as many blockbuster specialty products as we do blockbuster primary care [products].”

Specialty drug revenues grew roughly 13 percent in 2007, topped only by the growth of biotech drugs—up roughly 18 percent—and generics.

“The U.S. pharmaceutical market has entered a new era—one characterized by more modest growth due to the continuing impact of new generics products, fewer and more narrowly indicated novel medications and closer scrutiny of safety issues,” Aitken said.

No company is more determined to pursue opportunities in high-tech pharmacy services than Walgreens, which is rapidly building, largely through acquisition, a national presence in the dispensing and administering of highly specialized and expensive medications to treat HIV/AIDS, cancer, transplant rejection, infertility and other conditions requiring a higher level of professional intervention with patients and/or home infusion services. Through its managed care division, Walgreens Health Services, the company is acquiring “best of breed” specialty pharmacy businesses that company leaders said will make Walgreens a complete pharmacy service provider.

“Our goal is to marry WHS services to our thousands of pharmacy counters,” the company reported. “We want to say ‘yes’ to every prescription, from the common antibiotic to specialty drugs, home infusion, oxygen, durable medical equipment and prescriptions for assisted-care residents.”

That integration of capabilities means being able to offer patients and their healthcare plans everything from basic counseling, disease-management and medication therapy management, to the most advanced and specialized medication therapy at one of the chain’s specialty pharmacy centers.

To that end, Walgreens has aggressively stalked the specialty pharmacy market, acquiring such big niche players as Option Care, Medmark, Schraft’s and SeniorMed. That strategy has made Walgreens the third- or fourth-largest specialty pharmacy provider in the country, and the largest home infusion provider.

Walgreens’ Specialty Pharmacy division has also launched a new Web site for patients with HIV/AIDS, at www.HIV.Walgreens.com. The site provides information on the disease to patients and caregivers, and is intended to complement the company’s existing support services for HIV/AIDS patients, according to Walgreens.

“It gives patients the opportunity to get expert advice from an HIV-trained pharmacist in the comfort and privacy of their homes,” the company noted. “Patients and caregivers can also access a list of HIV-focused Walgreens pharmacy locations.”