Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - (Page 19) A decade into the modern biologics era, managing specialty drugs has proven harder than most payers probably expected. About all that is clear is that the old managed care techniques have not provided much traction. The management strategies of the next 10 years will look much different than those of the past. Another factor that kept insurers from taking more dramatic action, says Baker, was the opinion that the need for intense biologics management would be, to some degree, a short-term issue. The beginning of a “huge tidal wave” of patent expirations would move much of the traditional pharmacy market to generics, the thinking went, and the savings would cover the biologics. With that, controls on specialty drug spending — though always important — were no longer deemed critical, so benefit design changes became less crucial. Or so it was thought. In 2004, Medco Health Solutions predicted that specialty drug spending would reach $40 billion in the United States by the end of 2006. Last year, Express Scripts estimated that specialty expenditures had reached $54 billion by 2006, and projected they would hit $99 billion by 2010 — the start of what many industry observers have said will be a golden era of biologic approvals. In April, a Citigroup healthcare analyst told the New York Times that 23 percent of overall drug sales in the United States is attributable to specialty pharmacy (SP). Medco recently reported that, for its book of business, the increase in specialty drug expenditures from 2006 to 2007 was the largest contributor to overall drug spending growth. Another tidal wave. One that Gary Wagner The tiered benefit structure is here to stay, but there is a fine line between affordability and access, says Peter Kwok, PharmD, of Lumetra. “Look at Part D. Once patients are in the donut hole, they stop taking the medications.” JULY/AUGUST 2008 · BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE 19
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 Openers Contents Editorial/David B. Nash, MD, MBA Drug Track Health Plan Confidential Rheumatoid Arthritis A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On Specialty Pharmacy Employer to Employer Personalized Medicine Trends Clinical Briefs Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 (Page CoverA) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 (Page CoverB) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 (Page CoverC) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 (Page CoverD) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 (Page 1) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Openers (Page 2) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Openers (Page 3) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Contents (Page 4) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Editorial/David B. Nash, MD, MBA (Page 6) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Drug Track (Page 7) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Drug Track (Page 8) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 9) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 10) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 11) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 12) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 13) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 14) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Health Plan Confidential (Page 15) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Rheumatoid Arthritis (Page 16) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Rheumatoid Arthritis (Page 17) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 18) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 19) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 20) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 21) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 22) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 23) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 24) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 25) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope (Page 26) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? (Page 27) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? (Page 28) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? (Page 29) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? (Page 30) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? (Page 31) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief (Page 32) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief (Page 33) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief (Page 34) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief (Page 35) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief (Page 36) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 37) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 38) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 39) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 40) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 41) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 42) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 43) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers (Page 44) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On (Page 45) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On (Page 46) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On (Page 47) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On (Page 48) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On (Page 49) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Specialty Pharmacy (Page 50) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Specialty Pharmacy (Page 51) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Employer to Employer (Page 52) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Employer to Employer (Page 53) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Personalized Medicine (Page 54) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Personalized Medicine (Page 55) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Personalized Medicine (Page 56) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Trends (Page 57) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB1) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB2) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB3) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB4) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB5) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB6) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB7) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB8) Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - Clinical Briefs (Page CB8)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.