AMCP Annual

Magellan's Michelle Booth and Andy Killpack presented today at the annual AMCP meeting in San Antonio to discuss equitable access to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy as there are currently many barriers patients face toward treatment. Booth, senior director of specialty clinical solutions, claims though cost plays a significance in access, there are much more barriers from education to income that lead to inequities. Killpack and booth share solutions and other gene therapies expected to come to market.

At the annual AMCP meeting, Summit Re's Vice President of Actuarial & Underwriting, Rick Lassow, FSA, MAAA, led a discussion on managing high-cost medications through reinsurance and stop-loss programs. In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive Lassow addresses high-cost cell and gene therapies ran through reinsurance and how Medicaid can benefit the most from reinsurance programs.

The co-anchor of Good Morning America spoke about her experience when she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome.

Costs have always figured into drug coverage decisions, but value assessments have become a separate and more formalized part of the process at payer organizations, said members of a panel on value frameworks at the 2023 AMCP annual meeting. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) came up often during the discussion.

A pavilion devoted to prescription digital therapeutics and an educational track devoted to biosimilars are new this year.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, Director of Value & Access Strategy at Xcenda/AmerisourceBergen kicks off AMCP's 2023 annual meeting in San Antonio with her discussion on value framework assessments. Westrich mentioned one of the obstacles payers come across when using value assessment frameworks in decision-making is either not having enough information or having the right kind of information.

A proof-of-concept study showed that patients can be successfully switched from Cosentyx to Taltz with similar outcomes and lower costs.

About 3,000 people attended the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's annual meeting in Chicago last week.

Pear Therapeutics’ Yuri Maricich says the company hasn’t “put a stake in the ground” on the question but says standardizations is important.

A COVID-19 risk score helped steer outreach efforts to people who weren’t getting vaccinated by the pharmacy chain earlier in the pandemic.

Insurers need a better understanding of patients’ adherence and discontinuation of medication for primary biliary cholangitis, according to AllianceRx Walgreens Prime study.

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, BCOP, clinical pharmacy manager of Hematology/BMT/Cellular Therapeutics at University of Kansas Health System discussed CAR T-Cell therapies in managed care at the annual AMCP 2022 conference in Chicago.

Real-world studies are increasing as real-world data for new drugs for cancer and autoimmune disease have “matured,” says Laura E. Happe, Pharm.D., M.P.H., the editor-in-chief of Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy.

Katie Lockhart, MA, manager of Magellan Health, addresses her AMCP 2022 conference session on the financial impact of specialty drugs and cost-impact models.

Soumya Vishwanath, PharmD, senior manager of Formulary Strategy at Magellan Rx Management, talked about digital therapeutics in the behavioral health space and formulary strategy space during the annual AMCP 2022 conference in Chicago.

AllianceRx Walgreens Prime study has found that patients taking Ocaliva may not be adherent to their treatment regimen for rare liver disease.

“Popping a pill” makes cancer treatment more convenient, but research presented at the AMCP annual meetings shows that almost half of cancer patients on oral therapies are nonadherent. Oral administration typically moves a drug to the pharmacy benefit, which can mean high out-of-pocket costs and, in turn, nonadherence.

A disconnect exists between payers and patients with rare diseases about including patient input in the formulary process for orphan drugs.

Over 130 digital therapeutics for behavioral health are in the pipeline, but many payers are still sussing out how best to evaluate them and perhaps provide coverage, according to panelists at AMCP 2022. And for all of their advantages, digital therapeutics have some notable limitations and drawbacks.

Michael Ciarametaro, MBA, National Pharmaceutical Council National discusses gene therapy and the Medicaid Best Price Rule with MHE during the annual AMCP conference in Chicago.

Three thousand people are expected to attend the four-day meeting in Chicago. Kali Cyrus, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins who identifies as Black, female and queer, is leading a session tomorrow on bias.

AmerisourceBergen/Xcenda survey finds payers believe biosimilars provide costs savings, and they are expected to continuing contracting with manufacturers.

Most of the solutions have established systems to track patient outcomes over time, and several include performance guarantees as part of their solution.