Partnership offers ‘single view from factory to patient’ for specialty pharma

Two Philadelphia-area firms, IntegriChain and ProMetrics, are combining their capabilities in channel data management and de-identified patient data from (mostly) specialty pharmacies to provide what they are calling “guided analytics” that runs from the specialty pharma manufacturer to the patient.

“Most specialty manufacturers have product portfolios that are distributed through multiple channels,” noted Kevin Leininger, CEO of IntegriChain, in a statement. “Patients access many of their individual products through diverse pharmacy settings and sites of care. Never before have specialty pharma manufacturers had a single analytics platform that encompasses all of their channels – specialty pharmacy, specialty distribution, full-line wholesale, and retail.”

As is well known, specialty pharmaceuticals represent the fastest-growing part of the industry today; most specialty products arrive at some or all patients via specialty pharmacies, but there are a variety of channels to reach both those pharmacies and those patients. Keeping track of the dispensing the drugs, as well as the patient-support services that often accompany these products, has been a daunting challenge for brand owners. IntegriChain has developed substantial expertise in consolidating and analyzing channel data coming via EDI from wholesalers; and for its part, ProMetrics has been delivering consolidated reports on specialty pharmacy followup services to manufacturers. Bringing the two together is a very natural fit.

The two companies say that the combined service will offer a longitudinal view of the patient journey (at least as regards drug dispensing) as well as a “robust” analysis of key performance indicators for specialty-pharmacy account managers at pharma companies, who are often managing limited distribution networks of pharmacy services.