Walgreens to help bring cell and gene therapies to patients as it expands specialty pharmacy services

Walgreens on
Thursday
said
it
will
start
to
work
directly
with
drugmakers
to
bring

cell
and
gene
therapies
to
U.S.
patients
as
part
of
a
broader
expansion
of
its

specialty
pharmacy
services.

The
company
said
it
is
launching
a
new
business
unit
dedicated
to
its
specialty
pharmacy
segment,
which
will
include
specialty
pharmacy
subsidiary

AllianceRx.
The
unit
will
fall
under
its
core
U.S.
retail
pharmacy
division.
Meanwhile,

Shields
Health
Solutions,
a
subsidiary
that
supports
health
system-owned
specialty
pharmacies,
will
remain
under
Walgreens’s
U.S.
health-care
division. 

Specialty
pharmacies
have
become
a
significant
player
in
the
U.S.
health
system,
especially
as
chronic
diseases

become
more
prevalent.

Specialty
pharmacies
provide
medications
that
require
extreme
care
in
handling,
storage
and
distribution.
The
treatments
are
often
for
patients
with
chronic,
rare
or
complex
conditions
such
as
cancer,
Crohn’s
disease
and
HIV.
Specialty
pharmacies
also
offer
counseling
or
financial
assistance
designed
to
support
patients
taking
those
costly
treatments.

Among
the
company’s
new
investments
to “transform”
its
specialty
pharmacy
services,
it
will
open
a
newly
licensed
facility
in
Pittsburgh
dedicated
to
services
for
cell
and
gene
therapies.
The
18,000-square-foot
center
will
help
drugmakers
and
health-care
providers
navigate
the
complex
supply
chain
for
those
treatments
and
manage
patient
needs,
among
other
issues.

Walgreens’
decision
to
launch
cell
and
gene
therapy
services
comes
after
a
surge
in
approvals
of
those
drugs
in
the
U.S.
in
the
European
Union
over
the
last
year.
They
are

one-time,
high-cost
treatments
that
target
a
patient’s
genetic
source
or
cell
to
cure
or
significantly
alter
the
course
of
a
disease.
Some
health
experts
expect
cell
and
gene
therapies
to
replace
traditional
lifelong
treatments
that
people
take
to
manage
chronic
diseases. 

The
U.S.
Food
and
Drug
Administration
approved
seven
cell
and
gene
therapies
last
year,
including
the

first
gene
therapies
to
treat
sickle
cell
disease.
That
market
is
only
expected
to
grow:
The
FDA
has

predicted
that
it
will
be
reviewing
and
approving
between
10
and
20
cell
and
gene
therapies
each
year
by
2025. 

Walgreens
said
its
newly
launched
business
unit
is
the
largest
independent
provider
of
specialty
pharmacy
services,
with
approximately
$24
billion
in
revenue
from
the
segment.
Walgreens
Specialty
Pharmacy
business
is
not
partnered
with
a
pharmacy
benefit
manager,
the
company
noted. 

That
gives
the
company “the
flexibility
to
contract
dynamically
with
any
payer,”
Walgreens
Chief
Pharmacy
Officer
Rick
Gates
said
in
the
release. “We
can
partner
directly
with
pharmaceutical
manufacturers
to
facilitate
products
to
market,
including
limited
distribution
drugs,
and
coordinate
closely
with
providers
to
ensure
patients
experience
a
smooth
start
to
treatment.” 

Under
the
new
unit,
patients
of
AllianceRx
and
the
company’s
nearly
300
community-based
pharmacies
now
have
access
to
resources
that
will “build
upon
the
expert
care
they
already
receive
from
their
specialty
pharmacist,”
Walgreens
said
in
the
release.
That
includes
clinicians
with
key
disease
expertise,
nutritionists
and
nurses.

The
company
said
its
community-based
specialty
pharmacies
are
located
near
medical
office
buildings
and
health
systems,
offering
specialty
drugs “faster
than
industry
average”
along
with
services
such
as
injection
training
and
side-effect
management. 

Walgreens
said
it
has
more
than
1,500
specialty
pharmacists,
5,000
patient-advocacy
support
team
members
and
an
unspecified
number
of
dedicated
specialty
pharmacy
teams.

The
company
also
offers
more
than
1,300
specialty
drugs,
including
240 “limited
distribution”
drugs
that
few
specialty
pharmacies
have
access
to.