ICYMI: Highlights From AMCP Annual 2024

The annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy often covers a wide range of topics. This year, there was a strong focus on gene therapies, which are very expensive and being approved in greater numbers.

Here is the most-read coverage from the AMCP 2024 annual meeting, or you can read all of our coverage.

5. Gene and Cell Therapies Hold Potential—but How Can Payers Manage Their Costs?

Among the most-read coverage for the annual meeting were presentations on the potential and costs of cell and gene therapies, the latest trends in the industry, and pharmacogenomic testing in mental health.

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With 13 gene therapies and 10 cell therapies approved by the FDA (at the time of this presentation), there are important cost implications given the hefty price tags for these treatments. The first gene therapy approved had a price tag of $850,000 per injection, which pales in comparison to $4.25 million for atidarsagene autotemcel (Lenmeldy; Orchard Therapeutics), which was approved this year. Balancing cost with patient benefit is a challenge for payers, and strategies such as outcomes-based agreements are being implemented to manage costs, but greater collaboration is needed between payers and manufacturers to ensure patient access to these therapies.

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4. An Overview of Health Care and Pharmaceutical Trends, 2023-2024

A staple of the conference, Doug Long, MBA, vice president of industry relations, IQVIA, gave a keynote presentation on health care and pharmaceutical trends over the last year. Despite numerous challenges, the pharmaceutical market experienced considerable growth, and Long addressed the rise of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists and biosimilars, as well as patterns in specialty and traditional medicines, flu season, and more.

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3. Need for Pharmacogenomic Testing in Mental Health Care Explored at AMCP 2024

Pharmacogenomics have the potential to optimize efficacy of medications while mitigating adverse drug reactions in many areas of health care, but especially for mental health, according to presenters. They discussed the evidence supporting the use of pharmacogenomics, the benefits of testing in mental health, and the findings of a pilot pharmacogenomic testing program that tested an algorithm to identify patients at higher risk of experiencing drug-gene interactions.

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2. Award-Winning Poster Presentations From AMCP 2024

At every AMCP meeting, the top posters are presented, with awards to recognize originality, bias, relevance, clarity, and quality. The top posters covered topics in health equity, gene therapy, patient costs, and benefits. Among the posters that received a platinum medal was an analysis of electronic medical record data that connected diagnoses of certain diseases with overlapping social determinants of health measures. Another poster evaluated the effect of a new policy that eliminated the need for prior authorization to access continuous glucose monitors, which doubled their use and improved average glucose levels in patients. A third poster analyzed the impact of onasemnogene abeparvovec (Zolgensma; Novartis) for spinal muscular atrophy and noted a significant reduction in health care utilization for patients who initiated treatment.

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1. Optimizing Patient Care in Atopic Dermatitis: The Role of Ruxolitinib and Educational Initiatives for Managed Care Professionals

The most-read article from AMCP recapped 2 posters related to atopic dermatitis treatment. One poster specifically looked at ruxolitinib (Opzelura; Incyte) and found a reduction in corticosteroid use, as well as a reduction in claims for biologics from the preindex period. The authors concluded that the drug could limit the use of biologics and corticosteroids for patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. The second poster aimed to address knowledge gaps among managed care professionals that might have a negative impact on quality of care for patients.

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