Specialty Pharmacy

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Pharmacy this week is demonstrating how it is continuing its growth — both organically and through acquisitions. Alongside its solid third-quarter results, the company announced its acquisition of Pharmaceutical Technologies, which does business as National Pharmaceutical Services.

SAN FRANCISCO — McKesson on Monday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase RxCrossroads from CVS Health in a deal valued at $735 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, subject to customary closing conditions, including necessary regulatory clearances.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new lymphoma treatment from AstraZeneca. The company announced this week that its Calquence (acalabrutinib) had been approved to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma in patients who have received at least one prior therapy.

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Pharmacy has a new member of its executive leadership team who brings with her more than a quarter-century of industry experience. The company has named Robyn Peters its new EVP sales and payer strategies, a role in which she will oversee payer and business development strategies, as well as sales and account management.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR T, therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma. Yescarta, from Gilead’s recently acquired company Kite, was approved to treat relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma following two or more lines of systemic therapy.

Even after the boom that the specialty pharmacy sector saw in 2014 with the introduction of new treatments for hepatitis C, the drug class continues to see its share of per-capita spending grow as manufacturers continue to develop more targeted therapies. The changes that the specialty space is seeing have been documented by the Quintiles IMS Institute, both in its report on the use of medicines in 2016 and its issue briefs on the drivers of drug expenditure and the oncology space.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Janssen Biotech’s Stelara (ustekinumab) has a new indication. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the drug to treat adolescents ages 12 years and older with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

According to the World Health Organization, roughly one-third of patients diagnosed with plaque psoriasis is younger than 20 years of age, and adolescents in particular have limited treatment options.

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Pharmacy has begun filling prescriptions for patients prescribed the recently approved breast cancer treatment Verzenio (abemaciclib). The drug was approved to treat certain cases of advanced or metastatic breast cancer, either alone or in combination with Faslodex.

"This therapy represents yet another step forward in the way the healthcare community approaches treating advanced stages of this disease,” Diplomat president Joel Saban said. “We are proud to support patients dealing with breast cancer by dispensing VERZENIO.”