PHARMACY MARKET, PHARMA TECH
Businesswire | April 12, 2023
Shields Health Solutions the premier specialty pharmacy accelerator in the country, announces that it is partnering with Elliot Health System, the largest provider of comprehensive healthcare services in Southern New Hampshire, to launch a new pharmacy program to meet the unique needs of patients with complex, chronic conditions. The program will increase access to specialized pharmacy services designed to lower costs, expand treatment options, enhance medication management, and improve overall health.
The program with Elliot Health System and Shields will initially serve a variety of disease states and clinics including rheumatology, gastroenterology, neurology, pulmonology, oncology, endocrinology and family medicine. Specialty pharmacy liaisons will guide patients and caregivers who fill prescriptions with Elliot Health System and will work with patients on-site. These liaisons can assist patients and families with navigating barriers to care, such as health insurance prior authorizations or securing financial assistance, regardless of the location where they fill their prescription.
“Through our partnership with Shields, we can provide Elliot patients, and patients from other health care systems in our community, with expanded access to critical medications to achieve even greater positive health outcomes, particularly for the patients who require the highest degree of expertise to meet their needs,” said Molly Mortimer, Elliot Health System Director of Pharmacy Services. “We are pleased to join the Shields network to ensure we are doing all that we can to best care for our community.”
Expanded patient support services, combined with access to recently approved and newly available specialty medications, give patients greater availability for onsite treatment options. Shields currently partners with more than 75 health systems around the country and has helped their patients reduce co-pays, promptly receive medication delivery — often within two days — and improved medication adherence greater than 90 percent on average.
“Through a commitment to outstanding complex patient care and its position as a health care leader in the region, Elliot Health System, and SolutionHealth as a regional system, align well with Shields’ core mission and will make it a highly valued addition to our membership,” said John Lucey, Chief Executive Officer at Shields. “By securing access to 90 percent of the limited distribution drugs that complex patients need and opening the door to restricted payer networks, our partnership will elevate access to affordable care, while improving therapy management and care coordination for Elliot Health System’s patients.”
About Shields Health Solutions
Shields Health Solutions is the premier specialty pharmacy accelerator in the country. The Shields Performance Platform, an integrated set of solutions, services and technology, is intentionally designed to elevate payer and drug access for specialty pharmacies, elevate health outcomes for complex patients, and elevate growth throughout the entire health system. As the foremost experts in the health system specialty pharmacy industry, Shields has a proven track record of success including access to over 80 percent of all limited distribution drugs (LDDs) and most (health insurance) payers in the nation; and a clinical model proven to lower total cost of care by 13%. In partnership with more than 70 health systems across the country through national-scale collaboration, Shields has a vested interest in delivering measurable clinical and financial results for health systems.
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PHARMACY MARKET
Globenewswire | May 16, 2023
Athenex, Inc. a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions, today announced that, following an ongoing strategic review, it has reached agreement with its lenders to move forward with an expedited sales process of the Company’s assets across its primary businesses: Athenex Pharmaceutical Division (“APD”), Orascovery, and Cell Therapy.
To best facilitate this process, Athenex and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary proceedings under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. This will enable the Company to divest its assets and wind down the Athenex platform in an orderly fashion, while seeking to maximize value for its stakeholders. The Company anticipates concluding the expedited sales process by July 1, 2023, with the Chapter 11 cases continuing thereafter to resolve claims.
Athenex has also reached an agreement with its secured lenders, subject to court approval, for the consensual use of cash collateral, which will enable the Company to, among other things, satisfy certain obligations to its vendors for authorized goods received and services rendered after the filing. Athenex Pharma Solutions (“APS”), which includes the Company’s manufacturing facility in Clarence, New York, is expected to continue its operations for at least the next 90 days, to provide commercial supply of tirbanibulin ointment. In addition, APD is continuing to operate in the ordinary course and fill customer orders with the ample inventory it has on hand.
Dr. Johnson Lau, Chief Executive Officer of Athenex, on behalf of the management team and the Athenex Board of Directors, said, “Throughout our history, we have sought to become a leader in bringing innovative cancer treatments to the market and improving patient health outcomes. Our team was successful in bringing tirbanibulin, through regulatory approvals, to the U.S. market and a number of EU countries, as well as Taiwan. Unfortunately, our oral paclitaxel product candidate received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and this significant regulatory setback, coupled with challenging biotech markets and the difficult economic environment, put tremendous pressure on our ability to continue to fund our businesses.
“Over the past two years, we made considerable progress in refocusing our business around our promising NKT cell therapy platform, monetizing non-core assets to improve our balance sheet and extending our cash runway, paying down $108 million of debt, and undertaking a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to create value for our stakeholders. While we explored every viable avenue to avoid this outcome, an orderly sales process represents the best path forward at this time.
“Our goal remains to identify purchasers who will continue development of the important drug candidates for which we have established a good foundation, and to bring them to market on behalf of medical practitioners and, most importantly, for patients. We are incredibly thankful to our team for their dedication to Athenex and will look to support our colleagues through this transition period.”
Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP is acting as Athenex's legal counsel. MERU is serving as its financial advisor and Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC as its investment banker.
About Athenex, Inc.
Founded in 2003, Athenex, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leader in the discovery, development, and commercialization of next-generation cell therapy products for the treatment of cancer. The Company’s mission is to become a leader in bringing innovative cancer treatments to the market and to improve patient health outcomes. In pursuit of this mission, Athenex leverages years of experience in research and development, clinical trials, regulatory standards, and manufacturing. The Company is focused on its innovative Cell Therapy platform, based on natural killer T (“NKT”) cells.
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS, PHARMACY MARKET
Globenewswire | March 30, 2023
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. a pharmaceutical company advancing medicines to solve patients’ problems with current standards of care and provide transformative products to improve their lives, today announced it has expanded its exclusive license and supply agreement with Atnahs Pharma UK Limited (“Pharmanovia”), a global pharmaceutical company that revitalizes, extends and expands the lifecycle of established medicines, for Libervant™ Buccal Film to cover the rest of the world, excluding the United States, Canada, and China. The original licensing agreement with Pharmanovia announced in September 2022 covered the European Union, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway, as well as countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
“We are pleased to announce the expansion of our collaboration with Pharmanovia,” said Daniel Barber, Chief Executive Officer of Aquestive. “We believe Pharmanovia’s experience and geographic footprint align well with our goal of providing patients throughout the world with access to Libervant. This announcement also aligns with our mission to put the patient at the center of everything we do. We will continue to advocate for patient access, patient choice, and patient empowerment on a global basis.”
Pharmanovia CEO, James Burt, commented, “Following a strong start to our collaboration with Aquestive Therapeutics, we’ve expanded our agreement to include many more territories. Our experience with diazepam marketed under an established brand in Valium®, combined with Aquestive Therapeutics’ unique PharmFilm® technology, provides a potentially significant delivery option to caregivers and patients in times of critical need and enables us to optimize an existing medicine to better meet the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and payors.”
Pursuant to the expanded agreement, Aquestive Therapeutics will serve as the exclusive sole manufacturer and supplier for the product and Pharmanovia will be responsible for all regulatory and commercialization activities. Aquestive will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and, if approved for market access, milestone payments, and double-digit royalties on net sales of the diazepam buccal film in the licensed territories.
About Aquestive Therapeutics
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company advancing medicines to solve patients’ problems with current standards of care and provide transformative products to improve their lives. We are developing orally administered products to deliver complex molecules, providing novel alternatives to invasive and inconvenient standard of care therapies. Aquestive has five commercialized products marketed by its licensees in the U.S. and around the world, and is the exclusive manufacturer of these licensed products. The Company also collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to bring new molecules to market using proprietary, best-in-class technologies, like PharmFilm®, and has proven drug development and commercialization capabilities. Aquestive is advancing a late-stage proprietary product pipeline focused on treating diseases of the central nervous system and an earlier stage pipeline for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.
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