2019 Asembia Recap

Pharmacists have growing opportunities to help people living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Cohesion among key stakeholders, which will lead to an evolution in care, is clearly on the rise, and the growth of those relationships will only benefit patients in the end.

The annual Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit has become the largest meeting in the specialty space, and this year it exceeded prior numbers in attendance and offerings in programing.

With drug pricing increasingly becoming a hot button issue and greater consternation surrounding the cost of treating a chronic disease among the general public, it is clear that the health care industry is at a crossroads.

Patients treated for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) respond well to the high-touch specialty pharmaceutical service model.

Health system specialty pharmacies (HSSPs) are uniquely positioned to provide valuable data and superior care to the patients they serve.

Most American have never heard of hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR), which speaks to its very low incidence rate in the population.

For many years, a diagnosis of ovarian cancer—90% of which involve epithelial ovarian neoplasms—was a death sentence

For patients at risk for cardiovascular disease who have a less-than-expected response to statins or are intolerant of them, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) serine protease inhibitors fill an important treatment gap.

Still a mystery in terms of cause and cure, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare and progressive disease, but, fortunately, treatments for the condition have improved.

Diagnostic delay is a tragedy for many patients, as it increases the burden of disease and extends time to symptomatic relief or an actual cure.

Peanut allergy is not an issue only within the health care community—it is a hot topic of discussion and often discord among parents, teachers, legislators, and media commentators.

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) starts insidiously and presents as either a slowly progressive disease or a relapsing one, with partial or complete recovery between recurrences.

Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has the best outcomes when patients partner with their medical teams.

Although rare, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary arterial hypertension (CTEPH) is of growing interest to specialty pharmacists.

Since the growth of specialty pharmacies, genetically acquired bleeding disorders such as von Willebrand disease (vWD) have been among the most common conditions addressed in these practice locations.

Characterized by progressive focal muscle weakness that terminates with respiratory muscle failure, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) reduces life expectancy by 3 to 5 years.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the most common leukemia in Western nations, and investigators have made great strides in clarifying the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and diagnostic criteria.

Diabetic eye disease, which includes diabetic retinopathy and macular edema, is on specialty pharmacy’s radar, especially because diabetic retinopathy alone increased 89% between 2000 and 2010.

The "specialty-lite" platform leverages the current infrastructure of specialty pharmacies with efficient services and emerging technological solutions that focus on ensuring prescription fulfillment with economic feasibility.

Digital innovations are opening up a world in which patients can remain better informed about their health and pharmacists can use digital metrics to help their patients make more informed health care decisions.

Co-pay accumulator programs are the latest cost management initiative resulting from the constant push and pull between payers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and manufacturers to reduce drug spend.

The oncology drug pipeline has experienced rapid growth over the past decade, driven by innovations in cell therapies, immunotherapy, and precision medicine, according to a specialty pipeline update presentation at the Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit 2019.

Throughout the meeting rooms and educational sessions at the Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit 2019, there were clear signs that massive change could alter the industry before next year’s meeting.

After a flu season that the CDC called one of the deadliest in recent memory, any information that can help clinicians avert patient morbidity and mortality is welcome.

A common theme during this year’s summit was the uncertainty about the profitability of the existing specialty pharmaceutical model.