Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - (Page 2)

OPENERS EDITOR Michael D. Dalzell EDITOR IN CHIEF, EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Olympian Feats Michael D. Dalzell, Editor David B. Nash, MD, MBA SENIOR EDITOR Katherine T. Adams SENIOR EDITOR, CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS Amy Krajacic SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS B Amanda Brower Bob Carlson, MHA John Carroll Jack McCain CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Lola Butcher Scott Kober WEB EDITOR Tony Berberabe, MPH DESIGN DIRECTOR Philip Denlinger PRESIDENT AND GROUP PUBLISHER Timothy J. Stezzi PRESIDENT AND GROUP PUBLISHER Timothy P. Search, RPh EASTERN SALES MANAGER Scott MacDonald SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Kenneth D. Watkins III DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION SERVICES Waneta Peart CIRCULATION MANAGER Jacquelyn Ott The articles in BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE are reviewed by appropriate members of the editorial board and/or other qualified experts. The opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the institutions that employ the authors, BioCommunications LLC, or the publisher, editor, or editorial board. Clinical judgment must guide each clinician in weighing the benefits of treatment against the risk of toxicity. Dosages, indications, and methods of use for products referred to in this publication may reflect the clinical experience of the authors, or may reflect the professional literature or other clinical sources, and may not be the same as indicated on the approved package insert. Please consult the complete prescribing information on any products mentioned in this publication. BioCommunications LLC assumes no liability for the information published herein. y the time this issue is in your hands, Olympics hype should be reaching a crescendo. Having spent 12 days in China earlier this year, I can attest that the Olympic din here is but a fraction of what you hear (and see) over there. Everything — from the countdown clock in Tiananmen Square (right), to billboards depicting Chinese Olympians, to the maddening, ubiquitous road construction — reminds you that the big show is near. In the United States, the din about healthcare reform has taken on Olympic proportions. Politicians pander to the masses and promise generalities, but smarter people know that the details will make or break any reform effort. Those details will be slow and difficult to work out, because ultimately they will have great influence on access to, and management of, costly new therapies and diagnostic capabilities. Absent any sort of comprehensive blueprint, those who are tasked with managing healthcare do the best they can. And 10 years into the modern biologics era, if one thing is certain, it is this: The evolution of biologics management has been anything but linear. Senior editor Katherine T. Adams’s cover story looks at the many paths taken by those who have managed biologics in the last decade, and speculates on which direction they may go from here. That direction can be altered, of course, if real healthcare reform ever occurs. A linchpin for reform — one I would wager you will never hear from a politician — could be comparative effectiveness research (CER), which in turn could transform U.S. healthcare into a lean, mean healing machine that spends money wisely enough to open access to care for those Americans who have none. Talk about an Olym pian feat! Some very smart people are all for this, but as Contributing Editor Lola But cher reports herein, questions of who would do it — and how — bedevil efforts to get CER started. Three regular columns debut in this issue of BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE. Employer to Employer presents a case study of how a corporate purchaser manages biologics. Health Plan Confidential looks at issues in biologics management from the third-party payer’s point of view. Specialty Pharmacy is intended to crack that mysterious black box called SP, which many employers and even some health plans understand only vaguely. These join Personalized Medicine, which first ran in our May/June issue, in our redesigned content lineup. I am grateful for the efforts of our staff editors, our freelance writers, and our graphic artist, without whom these changes would lack their verve. To me, they are all Olympians. Enjoy the issue. CONTACT E-MAIL ADDRESSES: Editors: editors@biotechnologyhealthcare.com Circulation: biotechnologyhealthcare@icnfull.com Advertising: advertising@biotechnologyhealthcare.com Reprints: reprints@biotechnologyhealthcare.com 2 BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE · JULY/AUGUST 2008

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

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.