Top 5 Content From Asembia 2023

While Asembia’s 2023 Specialty Pharmacy Summit covered a wide range of topics, including addressing health equity concerns within practices, updates on the specialty pharmacy pipeline, and policy discussions, biosimilars ultimately took center stage, according to the top content from The American Journal of Managed Care^®’s Asembia coverage.

Here is the top coverage from Asembia, which was held April 30-May 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and check out all of our coverage.

5. How Are Health Care Organizations Working on DEI Efforts?

Inequitable care and health care deserts are well-known issues in the United States, and how to solve these health equity problems and improve internal diversity, equity, and inclusions initiatives were the main focus of this session from Asembia. Bansi Nagji, president of health care at GoodRx, gave a presentation on the topic, followed by a panel discussion, in which he was joined by Preeti Parikh, MD, practicing physician and executive medical director at GoodRx, and Pierre Theodore, MD, executive director of health equity at Genentech. The panel discussion covered what is currently being done and future focus.

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4. Julie Reed: The Status Quo for Biosimilars Needs to Change to Maintain the Industry

Juliana (Julie) Reed, executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, discussed the challenges still facing the biosimilars industry and how they may impact the success of adalimumab biosimilars in the United States during a presentation at the meeting. She emphasized that biosimilars can play a role in addressing health equity issues since women, seniors, and low-income patients benefit the most from biosimilar competition. Reed also covered payer challenges that are limiting market competition and access to biosimilars.

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3. An Overview of the Specialty Therapy Pipeline in 2023

The specialty pipeline has been growing year over year, and it’s projected to grow another 8% per year through 2025, noted Ray Tancredi, divisional vice president at Walgreens. In his presentation at Asembia, he highlighted 6 major trends in the specialty drug pipeline: innovation, gene and cell therapy, oncology therapies, patient centricity, biosimilars, and rare disease therapies.

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2. Survey Shows Payers More Likely to Prefer Multiple Biosimilars for the Same Reference Product

During session, speakers reported that payers are more likely to prefer multiple biosimilars for the same reference product rather than just prefer 1 biosimilar or just the reference product. The presenters were Tasmina Hydery, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, associate director of digital solutions at AmerisourceBergen, and Cate Lockhart, PharmD, PhD, executive director of the Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium. They reviewed the current biosimilars landscape, discussed how payers view biosimilars at present and how biosimilars are being operationalized, and reviewed current pieces of legislation that are affecting biosimilar adoption.

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1. Dr Fran Gregory Discusses the Implications of a New Wave of Biosimilars

During an interview at Asembia, Fran Gregory, PharmD, vice president of emerging therapies at Cardinal Health, discussed how biosimilars increase accessibility to medications for patients. She talked about the second wave of biosimilars, starting with the adalimumab biosimilars in 2023, hitting the market and the importance in the context of specialty pharmacy. It’ll be important for specialty pharmacies to understand the patient assistance programs and any financial support that is available for biosimilars as they did with many of these reference products, Gregory explained.

Watch the interview.