Specialty Pharmacy News Roundup: June 2023

CarepathRx Health System Solutions (CHSS), a CarepathRx company and portfolio company of Nautic Partners (Nautic), and Evernorth Health Services, a subsidiary of The Cigna Group announced a new strategic partnership and investment by Evernorth in CHSS. The strategic partnership brings together Evernorth’s diverse specialty and care expertise with CHSS’ robust pharmacy and infusion management capabilities, technology solutions, and health system relationships to improve, expand, and accelerate pharmacy care delivery for the growing number of patients with chronic and complex care needs. The CHSS and Evernorth partnership will deliver integrated specialty pharmacy care to CHSS’ growing base of 600-plus hospitals, health systems, and physicians – helping diversify the services they offer to best support patients. This includes enhanced coordinated infusion services, virtual care capabilities, value-based care arrangements, and site of care flexibility. Evernorth’s expansive suite of services, including Accredo’s specialty care and pharmacy expertise and CuraScript SD’s specialty medication distribution across 12,000 physicians, is highly complementary to CHSS’ capabilities that help health systems expand in-house specialty pharmacies, infusion and polypharmacy services.

Orsini Specialty Pharmacy, a leading independent specialty pharmacy focused on rare diseases and gene therapies, announced today that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. has selected the company as one of its limited distribution providers of ELEVIDYS (delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl). ELEVIDYS is the first gene therapy for the treatment of ambulatory pediatric patients aged 4 through 5 years with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene and is contraindicated in patients with any deletion in exon 8 and/or exon 9 in the DMD gene.

 PANTHERx Rare, the nation’s leading rare disease pharmacy, announced significant leadership changes as part of its ongoing growth and strategic development. Rob Snyder will assume the board Chairman role while continuing as CEO. Ken Bodmer will serve as the newly appointed President of PANTHERx Rare. B.J. Vaughn will serve as the Chief Human Resources Officer.

Blueprint Medicines recently announced the approval of AYVAKIT^® (avapritinib) for the expanded indication of adults with Indolent Systemic Mastocytosis (ISM). AYVAKIT was previously approved for the treatment of adults with Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis (SM), including aggressive SM (ASM), SM with an associated hematological neoplasm (SM-AHN), and mast cell leukemia (MCL), as well as for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) harboring a PDGFRA exon 18 mutation, including PDGFRA D842V mutations. PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy dispenses AYVAKIT  for all previously approved indications and will now dispense AYVAKIT for the ISM patient population.

Vivo Infusion, a nationally recognized provider of accessible and affordable ambulatory infusion services announced it has acquired Specialty Infusion, an industry leader in ambulatory infusion and specialty pharmacy services, dedicated to convenient and affordable solutions for infusion patients in 14 ambulatory infusion centers in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. With this acquisition, Vivo Infusion will advance to a combined 55 ambulatory infusion centers across ten states.

 University of Florida Health’s specialty pharmacy recently expanded the list of medications it offers and the number of insurance plans accepted, ensuring greater and faster access to complex and hard-to-find medicines for patients with rare, chronic or severe illnesses. The expansion was made possible after UF Health Specialty Pharmacy – Medical Plaza earned accreditation from URAC and the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, two groups that confirm pharmacies and other health facilities operate to the highest standards.

Walmart Inc. is expanding its pilot HIV-outreach program, with plans to put specially trained pharmacists into 80 stores by year’s end. The pharmacies will be spread over 12 states where people of color and residents in rural areas lack access to, or education about, treatment options. In November 2021, the Bentonville-based retailer created three specialty pharmacies to provide teams trained in HIV/AIDS medications, along with care coordination and help finding emotional support services from community health workers.

Takeaway: The latest in specialty pharmacy news and research. Stay up to date on companies and industry trends at the forefront of the specialty pharmacy industry.