The Impact of COVID-19 on the Pharmaceutical Market

07/06/20 • 28 min

JC Scott speaks with Doug Long, Vice President of Industry Relations at IQVIA, about the impact of COVID-19 on the pharmaceutical market. Long discusses the data trends for pharmaceutical companies during COVID-19 and, most importantly, how these trends impact healthcare patients.

Prescription Stockpiling: With news of the impending pandemic, patients around the US began to stockpile 90-day prescriptions in March. As a consequence, the pharmaceutical marketplace experienced a major decrease in demand in the following two months. Long describes the effects of this “prescription rush” and subsequent demand decrease on the pharmaceutical industry.

Access Prescriptions and Shortages: JC and Long discuss methods by which patients are receiving their prescriptions during COVID-19. Mail-order and other socially distant methods (such as deliveries) have grown in popularity. Long also details how the pharmaceutical industry has responded to recent supply chain shortages. Overall, he is impressed by the resilience of the pharmaceutical supply chain (which includes manufacturing, PBMs, pharmacies, wholesalers, and logistics companies) during COVID-19.

Growth of TeleHealth: Long touches on the impact of telehealth on the healthcare marketplace and medical prescriptions. He notes the dramatic growth of telehealth in a matter of just a few months, and he believes that telehealth is here to stay. However, he cautions that telehealth may have a negative impact on prescription trends for patients.

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You can subscribe to The Pharmacy Benefit on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and all other major platforms.

Previous Episode

How Technology Improves Patient Outcomes (Especially in the COVID-19 Age)

Host JC Scott speaks with Mostafa Kamal, CEO of Magellan Rx Management, about the evolving role of the PBM market in delivering solutions to its clients. JC and Mostafa also discuss challenges to Medicaid during the current economic downfall, as well as upcoming technological innovations to improve the patient experience.

PBM Tools Drive Affordability and Care for Medicaid: Recent unemployment hikes are expected to put severe strains on Medicaid. States across the US will have budgetary pressures to cope with the surge of new patients. Magellan Rx Management is delivering solutions to US States and DC to lower costs and improve efficiency for their Medicaid programs.

New PBM Market Disruptors Are Emerging: Innovators (i.e., “disruptors”) identify and eliminate market inefficiencies to improve customer experiences. In the age of COVID-19 and changing consumer expectations, Mostafa anticipates an increase in the pace of PBM market disruptions. JC and Mostafa discuss some major disruptions on the horizon, including drone home deliveries, real-time information sharing, and predictive modeling to identify medication non-adherence risks.

Greater Personalized Care in the Future: Mostafa believes that future PBM market disruptors will focus on the personalization of medicine. He foresees a customized, genetic-based pharmacy experience for each patient.

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Next Episode

What PBM Customers Think of Their Drug Benefits

Host JC Scott speaks with Dan Judy, Analyst and Polling Expert at North Star Opinion Research, about his recent polls finding that benefits managers are overwhelmingly satisfied with results on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Despite these positive results, JC and Dan discuss why PBMs still suffer from a “trust deficit” in the public eye.

High Satisfaction with PBMs: Overall, North Star’s polling results found that the vast majority of employers/benefit managers are satisfied with PBMs. Most benefits managers also agreed that their contracts with PBM are transparent and that PBM tools and programs (such as mail orders) are helpful to their employees.

Stabilizing Drug Costs: More than half of North Star’s surveyed benefits managers reported that drug costs remained stable over the past year. JC notes that stabilized drug prices improve consumer experiences and point to increased satisfaction with PBMSs.

Overcoming the Trust Deficit: Despite these positive polling results, JC and Dan discuss why there remains a perception that PBMs are non-transparent and increase drug costs. They offer that the combination of charged political discourse on drug pricing and “blame-shifting” within the healthcare industry have fostered continued public skepticism toward PBMs.

You can subscribe to The Pharmacy Benefit on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and all other major platforms.