We Are Now AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy
In June we changed our name to AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy due to our change in ownership. We are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance. While our name has changed, we are still the same specialty and home delivery pharmacy our patients have come to depend on for their life-changing and in some instances, life-saving medications.
What’s New for AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy?
First, I'm excited to announce that Tracey James, RPh, is our new chief operating officer. Tracey is a licensed pharmacist who's been with us since the inception of our company five years ago. She now oversees our pharmaceutical and payer relations, clinical and professional services, and our new Specialty360 Therapy Teams. These teams offer more personalized care for our patients and their prescribers. We know when patients come to us, they often face difficult diagnoses and life-changing events. We now have a team resourced to provide all the care they need. Our pharmacists, nurses, pharmacy technicians, and other team members are all trained not only on the medication but also the disease state. Understanding how to better care for a patient in their journey is our focus and we're really excited about offering this to those we serve.
Access to Limited Distribution Drugs
In the last year, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy has had unprecedented success in the limited distribution drug space, specifically in oncology and rare and orphan diseases. This is where the pipeline is going and where the focus is, and we have really positioned our organization to be a valuable partner for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Our dedicated Specialty360 Therapy Teams work very closely with prescribers and their patients to make sure patients get on therapy quickly, can stay on therapy and realize the benefits from it. We have a straightforward goal of improving patient outcomes and lowering health care costs. This aligns well with all our partners in the space and really helps us drive value across the entire channel.
Affordability of Specialty Medications
There are several reasons why specialty medications are more expensive than traditional medications, not the least of which is sometimes the extensive research that goes into the small populations needing these therapies. From a pharmacy standpoint, a significant amount of monitoring and special handling of these therapies also contribute to the high price tag.
Just five years ago, only 1% to 2% of the American public used specialty drugs, yet they accounted for approximately 38% of total drug expenditures.1 Today, specialty drugs account for 50% or greater of the total prescription spend. In some cases, employers are seeing specialty costs account for 60% or even greater of their total drug spending.2
At AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, we have reimbursement specialists who assist with prior authorizations and questions about insurance coverage. They also help identify financial assistance programs available to eligible patients. In fact, we connected eligible patients to more than $600 million in financial assistance between 2019 and 2021.3
That comes not only from manufacturer discount cards but also from foundations and anywhere else we can find assistance for those patients to help make sure they can afford their medication and get the benefit they need. We have always worked to provide this level of attention and support to our patients every day and this is something we will continue at AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy.
The Future of Specialty Pharmacy
Specialty pharmacy is an exciting place right now. Not only do we see the growth in rare and orphan, and some of the diseases like oncology, but I think we're also seeing truly groundbreaking therapies coming to market. We are starting to truly see personalized medicine come to life. We now are doing things with gene and cell therapies and beginning to use words like ‘cure.’
The other thing that's going to go hand in hand with that is a focus on eliminating social barriers. For example, things that may prevent a patient from being successful on therapy or staying on therapy, such as stable housing, access to food, the ability to get transportation to an appointment, or need for a laboratory test. Those are the types of barriers specialty pharmacies are going to be able to help patients with to make sure they're successful on their journey. I think it is really an exciting time in specialty pharmacy and it's exciting to be a part of a company like AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy that is leading the way.
Sources
1 https://www.admere.com/amr-blog/the-rising-costs-of-specialty-drugs
2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2022/05/03/health-plans-brace-for-specialty-drugs-eclipsing-50-of-prescription-spending/?sh=4c27be58307d
3 https://www.alliancerxwp.com/contents/press-releases/alliancerx-walgreens-prime-conne.html
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