Fein: Patients Are Trapped in ‘Doom Loop of Specialty Drug Benefits’

Jul 13
Jul 13, 2023

Plan sponsors’ use of copayment accumulators, copay maximizers and alternative funding companies to keep spending on specialty drugs down has been a fairly recent trend but one that continues to pick up speed, noted longtime industry expert Adam J. Fein, Ph.D., CEO of Drug Channels Institute, during a recent webinar. But as that use continues to increase, multiple questions exist around the practices and what the future holds for them.

The focus of the June 23 webinar, titled PBMs and the Battle Over Patient Support Funds: Accumulators, Maximizers, and Alternative Funding, mainly affects specialty drugs, which now represent more than half of payer spending on drugs due to two main reasons, he said. The first is the specialty drug pipeline and the costly prices of those agents, while the second is the dramatic growth in generic dispensing over the past 20 years.
Read more
© 2025 MMIT

Angela Maas

Angela has an extensive background of editing, reporting and writing for trade and consumer publications. She has written Radar on Specialty Pharmacy since she joined AIS Health in 2005 and has broad knowledge of the various issues at play within the space. She also has written for Spotlight on Market Access since its 2017 launch. Before joining AIS Health, she was managing editor at Employee Benefit News and Employee Benefit News Canada and managing editor at Hem Aware (a hemophilia publication), Lupus Living and Momentum (a multiple sclerosis publication). She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in British literature from Arizona State University.