AMCP Nexus: The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus

The concluding keynote address at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2022 meeting discussed new and emerging oncology drugs in the pipeline and their potential impact on the treatment landscape as it pertains to managed care providers.

Chester "Bernie" Good, MD, MPH, senior medical director of the Center for Value Based Pharmacy Initiatives at UPMC Health Plan, talks about the evolution of value-based contracts.

Brian MacDonald, PharmD, senior director of specialty clinical strategy and innovation at Magellan Rx Management, explains how enhanced utilization management programs are implemented and can lead to cost avoidance for rare disease treatments.

Two posters presented at AMCP Nexus 2022 addressed the cost-effectiveness of guideline-recommended integrase strand transfer inhibitor–based triple therapy in people living with HIV, as well as the efficacy of adjuvant lenacapavir in treatment-naïve patients.

New and emerging medications in the specialty drug pipeline were discussed during a keynote address at AMCP Nexus 2022 by Aimee Tharaldson, PhD, senior clinical pharmacist of emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts, with biosimilars, orphan drugs, and cell and gene therapies emerging as key trends to watch.

Kelly Price, US Head of Rare Disease at HRA Pharma, argues proving the value of the prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) market may lead to better coverage of PDTs.

Kevin N. Astle, PharmD, assistant professor at University of South Florida Taneja College of Pharmacy, expands on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapies in the pipeline discussed at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus fall 2022 meeting.

Two stakeholders from Avalere Health discuss the utility of patient-centric value frameworks for equitable health care delivery, as well as challenges and strategies regarding its implementation at Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2022.

Stakeholders at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus 2022 meeting review federal legislative and regulatory updates in managed care pharmacy and the impact that upcoming midterm elections will have on these provisions.

Bhavesh Shah, RPh, BCOP, chief pharmacy officer and director of specialty and hematology/oncology pharmacy at Boston Medical Center, goes over his session to be presented at the fall meeting of AMCP Nexus 2022.

The annual fall meeting of AMCP Nexus 2022 will feature a keynote from one of the top physician-executives in health care, the specialty pharmaceutical pipeline, and insights for managed care stakeholders in selecting and integrating cost-effective, value-based care frameworks.

The proposal to allow HHS to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices is relatively realistic although the outcome will vary a lot drug by drug and class by class, said Melissa Andel, MPP, vice president of health policy at CommonHealth Solutions.

The benefit of real-world evidence is that it provides more data on subpopulations and diverse populations, said Christina Barrington, vice president of pharmacy programs at Priority Health.

As deductibles for Medicare Part D beneficiaries and enrollment continue to rise, new policies and reconciliation negotiations aimed at lowering costs may hold the key to stabilizing Part D plans, according to presenters at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2021 meeting.

Two posters presented at AMCP Nexus 2021 review the high burden of social determinants of health (SDOH) on patients with serious mental illness.

During her presentation at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2021 meeting, Aimee Tharaldson, PhD, highlighted the most anticipated specialty pharmacy drugs awaiting FDA approval, including several treatments for cancer and rare diseases.

Novel financial concepts will help to ensure sustainable access to gene and cell therapies, which may help reduce disparities, said Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, senior advisor, FoCUS Project, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, and executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Real Endpoints.

There are potential ways that precision medicine could exacerbate disparities, but it should be used to guide people to the right treatments, said Nick Page, chief clinical and strategy officer, and Patty Taddei-Allen, PharmD, MBA, BCACP, BCGP, vice president of clinical programs and services, WellDyne.

A panel discussion at AMCP Nexus 2021 explored the current biosimilar landscape and level of uptake, with survey results showing payers are accepting of biosimilars and that a majority support nonmedical switching.

A panel of experts highlighted a number of emerging product solutions that can help health plans overcome challenges associated with financing and reimbursing gene and cell therapies and offered insight into how these solutions can be expanded as more therapies enter the market.

Multiple trastuzumab biosimilars were approved and launched very quickly in the United States, which sets up an interesting scenario in the market to see the nuance of having multiple options available, said Cate Lockhart, PhD, PharmD, MS, program, director, Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium (BBCIC).

Large health system pharmacies need to first identify their own contributions to health care disparities before identifying areas of opportunity to address the issue, said Aimee Loucks, PharmD, manager, specialty clinical pharmacy programs and formulary, Kaiser Permanente.

A panel of experts at AMCP Nexus 2021 explored multiple ways that health plans and providers can begin to address disparities in health care and offered recommendations on how to implement these tactics effectively.

The fall meeting has multiple sessions on different aspects of health disparities and addressing drug costs, including 3 sessions on biosimilars.

Tackling disparities in diabetes management first requires collecting data and identifying affected groups before being able to take action, explained Brenden O'Hara, RPh, BCACP, from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

While sickle cell disease is not prevalent in the general population, the significant cost associated with the condition warrants action from payers and formulary decision makers to improve patient access and align cost with their budgetary goals.

In her presentation, Aimee Tharaldson, PhD, senior clinical pharmacist of emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts, discussed the upcoming pipeline of specialty drug approvals and their potential impact on the market.

In the current pipeline of specialty medications seeking approval, a majority of development lies within orphan drugs and cancer medications, said Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, of Express Scripts.

The pressure on state budgets exerted by new approvals of costly therapeutics has led many states to implement legislation aimed at regulating drug prices, but the success of these efforts is not uniform across the nation.

Americans not covered by Medicaid should be aware of 2 key factors: the use of copay accumulators in commercial health plans and management of emerging high-cost specialty prescription drugs.