Real Endpoints

We are so excited to announce that we have hired Shana Trexler as a Senior Account Executive to advance sales of RE Assist. A Fierce Healthcare Innovation winner in 2024, RE Assist is an innovative tool that supports people living with disease find financial support for their treatment costs. Shana comes to us from TransPerfect Life Sciences, where she supported life sciences companies with global content and specialized solutions. We continue to believe that RE Assist is an important solution in the patient support services world, especially given the dynamic policy and structural changes that are afoot. As we continue to invest in upgrades to RE Assist, Shana will be a critical team member, working closely with Susan Raiola, Julia Murphy, and Alec Doherty. Welcome to the Real Endpoints team, Shana! #NewHire #PatientSupportServices #PatientAssistance #Solutions cc Jeff Berkowitz Susan Raiola Roger Longman Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Ryan Walsh Rob O'Brien Julia Murphy https://lnkd.in/gBq6HxW6

IRA...round 2 As expected, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the second round of drugs that will be subject to “negotiation” under the #InflationReductionAct. It’s the last major healthcare move from the Biden Administration and a chance to keep the momentum going on its signature leglislation. Here is what we know – and what we don’t.   Most of the drugs named were expected, particularly the GLP1’s Ozempic and Wegovy. How aggressively Trump’s HHS will negotiate the prices of all the drugs on the list, given Trump’s distaste for the IRA, is an open question. But the public demand for more affordable versions of GLP1’s, and for Medicare coverage of their weight loss indications (which Biden had proposed), would imply at least with GLP1's some serious bargaining. That doesn’t mean the new administration won’t push for changes in the IRA (eliminating the nine vs. thirteen disparity for small and large molecules would be welcomed by the drug industry, for example) Cancer drugs represent a higher proportion of the list than in the previous round – and will represent an increasing share going forward. What’s unknown: whether the negotiations inspire more innovative contracts in a drug class that has historically enjoyed protections from reimbursement pressure. Many of the drugs on the list are already heavily discounted. Benchmarking the real savings is going to be an ongoing game of “you show me your numbers, I’ll show you mine.” The biggest unknown is the data set that will be used to negotiate the maximum fair prices for this next round of meds. Truth is we still don’t know the data used for the 2024 round, given the heavily redacted materials published late last year.  Jeff Berkowitz Ellen Licking Susan Raiola Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Rob O'Brien Ryan Walsh Jennifer Graff https://lnkd.in/eRuw8QuQ

Some off the cuff thoughts from Real Endpoints CEO Jeff Berkowitz as this year's #JPM Healthcare Conference comes to a close. #JPM2025

Is this 340B's Martin Shkreli moment?   A decade ago, Martin Shkreli firebombed the drug industry: his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, turbocharged Valeant Pharma’s already skin-crawly strategy of buying an old but still proprietary drug, then radically increasing the price. Shkreli’s Turing bought the anti-parasitic Daraprim (which sold for $13.50 a pill) and raised its price 55x, to $750. Before long, the entire drug industry was painted in Shkreli colors – and it’s never truly been able to wash them off – even after the miracles of Covid vaccine development.   Now it’s the hospitals’ turn. This deeply researched NY Times article highlights 340B's dark underbelly. It provides a detailed accounting of a small division of Vizient, called Apnexus, which gives health systems the tools and advice, via a well-meant law establishing the 340B drug pricing program, to radically ramp up revenues at the expense of payers, patients, the government, and pharma companies.   340B drug sales were $66.3 billion in 2023, up from $12 billion ten years earlier, according to the NYT. The anecdotes in the article were more than disturbing: a $2700 cancer drug, for example, billed out by the hospital to the insurer at $22,700, reimbursed at $10,000, and a patient cost-share from the hospital above $2500 (with the patient chased by a collection agency for the funds).   Certainly, pharma hates what 340B has become. But the article makes clear why plenty of others should too. Just as Shkreli landed when the world was ready to react to his greed-is-good message, the steady uptick in calls for 340B reform – not just from pharmas – has prepared the ground for a similar reaction to the greed of ever-more-consolidated health systems. #340B #drugpricing #patientaccess cc Roger Longman Jeff Berkowitz Susan Raiola Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Rob O'Brien Ryan Walsh Julia Murphy

Day 2 of the official #JPM2025 meeting. #Networking al fresco and after dark - with a heightened security presence. In addition to M&A chatter and discussion of what's likely to happen on the policy front, JPM getting major props for this year's tote bag. IYKYK. cc Jeff Berkowitz Roger Longman Real Endpoints

The vibe at this year’s JPM matches the weather: sunny all the time. It’s a pleasant change from years’ past, when literal storm clouds collided with metaphorical ones (linked to commercial headwinds for cell and gene therapies, the Inflation Reduction Act and more). The Real Endpoints team kicked off its #JPM2025 Saturday at the First Annual Sachs Biopharma Obesity Innovation Forum where our CEO Jeff Berkowitz analyzed market access trends, coverage dynamics for #obesity meds, and what that massive new spend means for coverage of other products. There is probably no single drug class creating more tailwinds and headwinds for the biopharma industry than #obesity. Positive health outcomes in a variety of diseases showcase the value of these medicines in staving off expensive future health costs. At the same time, the upfront budget impact associated with meeting the market demand creates affordability challenges we’d be naïve to underestimate. Meeting these delivery challenges will require additional innovation in the direct-to-consumer model and new ways of working with PBMs, payers, and self-insured employers. But at the start of a new year, there may be no better place to have those discussions than San Francisco. Connecting with other innovators to build something new is what #JPM is all about, isn’t it? #obesity #JPM2025 #biotechnology #pharmaceutical #marketaccess #patientaccess #innovation cc Jeff Berkowitz Roger Longman Susan Raiola Ryan Walsh Rob O'Brien Julia Murphy Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA

The healthcare industry is never dull, but this year things are even more … dynamic … than usual. The Real Endpoints team will be in San Francisco for the confab talking about key market access issues, including: 1. The ripple effect of GLP-1 coverage on the coverage of other products 2. The reform landscape and its implications for drug pricing and access 3. Patient support as a commercial differentiator If you’d like to sit down and discuss these (or other) industry trends or your company’s access and reimbursement strategy, please reach out. We’d love to connect! #JPM2025 #networking #meetings #marketaccess #patientaccess #drugpricing #reimbursement #trends cc Jeff Berkowitz Roger Longman Susan Raiola Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Rob O'Brien Ryan Walsh Julia Murphy

Real Endpoints is looking forward to attending J.P. Morgan's 2025 Healthcare Conference. We would love to meet to discuss market access opportunities and our award winning patient services platform RE Assist. Please reach out to book some time!! Roger Longman Ellen Licking Susan Raiola Rob O'Brien Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Ryan Walsh #marketaccess #patientservices #pharmaceuticals #biotech #celltherapy #genetherapy #specialtypharma

Real Endpoints' was privileged to co-host this week's inaugural Cell Therapy Commercialization Leadership Forum along with Adjuvant Partners and Leavitt Partners with support from McKesson, FFF Enterprises and CIRM. It was a jam-packed agenda of intense dialogue on the opportunities and challenges facing commercial uptake of Cell Therapies including lessons learned, payer and patient challenges, scaling up and technology. Please reach out for learnings and insights to support your cell therapy market access approach. Thank you to our amazing moderators and panelists, Timothy Schroeder Crystal Mackall Robert Preti Bob Shelley Burt Zweigenhaft Jennifer Levin Carter MD, MPH, MBA Ross Hoffman, M.D. Lee Lewis Jayson Slotnik Joe DePinto Matthew Hewitt Krishna Komanduri Navneet Majhail John Powderly II MD Amy DuRoss Hilary Marston Maria Gonzalez Bonneville Tay Salimullah Mark Trusheim Kelly M. McVearry Max G. Bronstein Charlene Son Rigby Kimberly Noonan Jason Bock Madan Jagasia Steven Lester MD Fred Aslan Howard Federoff Umesh Patel Roger Longman Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA Susan Raiola Ellen Licking Rob O'Brien Ryan Walsh #celltherapy #marketaccess #reimbursement