Improved patient access is the goal of CareMetx-Vineti alliance

CareMetx, a leading provider of patient support (hub) services, has announcing an alliance with Vineti, with the partnership forming the basis of a new CareMetx division, OutcomesRx. Together, the firms will develop a combination of active patient support (benefits verification, care coordination, followup, etc.) with the data-gathering and reporting capabilities of Vineti. Part of this combination will include linking CareMetx’ IT platform, CareMetx Connect, with Vineti’s; Amy DuRoss, CEO and cofounder of Vineti, notes that the company has APIs built to speed this process along.

“Personalized therapies need to be supported by technology solutions as innovative as their science,” said DuRoss, in a statement. “Providing large numbers of patients with personalized therapies requires a new digital foundation that supports the patient journey.”

CareMetx is one of a growing number of outsourced hub providers, hired by specialty pharmaceutical companies to manage the onboarding and care of patients prescribed the manufacturers’ medicines. Vineti is one of a handful of companies that have developed enterprise-level IT systems that organize workflows from receiving patients’ cells (in that type of CGT), through the processing and genetic manipulations, and back to the patient. FDA, when approving CGTs, has set expectations of monitoring patient outcomes for years after administration of the therapy; this is built into the platform.

Mark Hansen, CEO of CareMetx, characterizes the ultimate offering from OutcomesRx as “hub plus”—CGTs, he says, will “need additional services beyond what is currently provided” in most specialty pharmaceutical and orphan drug programs. He also cites FDA data that the agency expects to receive more than 200 new CGT applications per year by 2025, and to approve 10 to 20 of them annually.