As the saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” But apparently the researchers at Prime Therapeutics (Prime) never heard that phrase, as they will share an impressive volume of data and insights during Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week.

With 10 research posters and six education sessions on the agenda for this year’s event, the Prime team evaluated real-world drug utilization, managed care pharmacy programs and associated cost of care for a range of topics, including adherence/persistence data of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist drugs for weight loss, the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on asthma and diabetes drug treatment and more.  

I (Alex Cook, part of Prime's newsroom team) connected with Pat Gleason, assistant vice president, health outcomes, and David Eckwright, senior director, clinical project and program management, to learn more about our presence at the event and the importance of Prime’s research at AMCP Nexus 2024.

Alex Cook: Prime’s researchers have 10 posters and six education sessions on the agenda for AMCP Nexus 2024, which is a great volume of material. What does it mean to you and the team to have such a robust body of work to present at this event?
Pat Gleason (PG): It’s a testament to Prime’s managed care pharmacy clinical program development and measurement commitment. We strive to develop the best managed care pharmacy programs and to measure their impact. Sharing and discussing our findings at AMCP helps us learn how we can make our services better. 

Among the recurring areas of research, we will present our year-two GLP-1 research — which was publicly announced in July — as a poster at AMCP Nexus 2024. I know the presentation of our prior GLP-1 data at AMCP Annual Meeting last spring was a standing-room-only event, and I presume anticipation is high for the presentation of our most recent research later this week. What were some of the reactions from your peers to our GLP-1 research?
PG: GLP-1 medications are revolutionizing obesity treatment. It is essential we understand how they are being used in the real world, their real-world clinical outcomes and potential for cost offsets. Feedback from my managed care pharmacy colleagues on our finding that there is poor real-world GLP-1 obesity treatment persistency and adherence has been that we need to do more to help our members remain on their GLP-1 obesity therapy. Weight loss is a journey that requires lifestyle modification along with drug therapy with a care team including a pharmacist to help ensure optimal medication adherence. We are proud to see our real-world GLP-1 obesity treatment year-one cost-offset research, which was presented at the AMCP 2024 annual conference, cited in the Congressional Budget Office’s just-released report “How Would Authorizing Medicare to Cover Anti-Obesity Medications Affect the Federal Budget?”. 

AMCP Annual Meeting and AMCP Nexus seem to get larger every year. What are some of the trends that have changed the managed care pharmacy space in recent years and helped to spur this growth?
David Eckwright (DE): Health care spending continues to increase every year, and pharmacy has recently been identified as a major contributor. A lot of the increase in pharmacy cost is due to higher GLP-1 utilization and the high cost of cell and gene therapies. These new challenges require more than traditional management strategies, and managed care professionals are looking for new innovative ideas and solutions at ACMP. In addition to this, I feel the networking aspect of AMCP has become even more important with so many companies being remote. AMCP provides a central hub where colleagues and industry peers can meet face to face, strengthening relationships that can be difficult to maintain in a remote work environment. 

Looking at the schedule for this week, Prime will host the keynote on specialty pharmaceuticals in development for the first time. Tell us why this is such an important session for Prime, our clients and members?
DE: Specialty drugs now account for over half of drug spend, making effective management of these therapies critical for controlling overall drug costs. As a market leader in specialty drug management, our expertise spans both pharmacy and medical benefits, driving savings for both clients and members. The driving force behind these solutions is our specialty drug expertise, and this keynote provides the platform to display this expertise to the marketplace and bring broader awareness to our thought leadership and specialty drug solutions.

And a question for the both of you: What are some of the trends and topics you’re most excited to hear about at AMCP Nexus 2024?
PG: An important topic is AMCP’s leadership on the development of real-world evidence standards that will facilitate pharmaceutical manufacturer and payer communications, which I expect will lead to more impactful value-based contracting. Medicare benefit redesign, specialty drug trends and new managed care programs are topics I’ll be gaining insights. I’m especially intrigued by the “Best Practices in Balancing Actuarial Pricing and Formulary Management” session. The poster session always provides me with new ideas that I can bring back to improve our clinical services.

DE: I always appreciate sessions that provide some insight on future challenges and opportunities we may face in our industry. For me, this comes from the regulatory sessions and executive exchanges. I really value these outside perspectives. I am also interested in the specialty drug sessions around precision oncology and clinical programs and our own keynote on the specialty drug pipeline. Lastly, I always enjoy exploring the poster sessions for innovative management approaches and methodologies to assess outcomes.

For more insights, check out our AMCP Nexus 2024 in focus article series on the Prime newsroom, which will be updated throughout this week. Viva Las Vegas, everyone!