WEBVTT 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:04.200 Nico Saraceno: Welcome everyone, and thank you for 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.560 joining us today for the CoverMyMeds Innovation Roundtable 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:13.440 built for what's next. I am Nico Saraceno. I am the senior editor 00:00:13.440 --> 00:00:16.800 of Nutritional Outlook, formerly of Pharmaceutical Commerce 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.100 magazine, and I'm quite honored to be moderating this 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:27.200 conversation ahead of Asembia AXS 26 now every year, AXS 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:32.420 sets the agenda for the specialty pharmacy and biopharma 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:38.900 industries, and this year, here in 2026 the conversation is 00:00:38.900 --> 00:00:44.020 feeling more urgent than ever. The force is reshaping access, 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:48.460 affordability and patient support are accelerating. Policy 00:00:48.460 --> 00:00:54.220 continues to evolve, and AI is now table stakes. And on the 00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:56.920 other hand, you have the specialty pipeline, particularly 00:00:56.980 --> 00:01:02.340 in oncology. It's becoming increasingly complex. So to help 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:07.560 make sense of all of this, we've assembled a fantastic group of 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:11.040 leaders from across the industry. So together, we'll be 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.300 examining the forces driving change here in 2026 we'll 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:19.980 explore where innovation is headed, and we'll identify what 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:25.520 capabilities are most likely to define the year ahead. I love to 00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:30.200 start by having our panelists introduce themselves and share 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:35.360 what's on their minds as we head into Asembia. So Miranda, would 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.460 you like to kick things off for us? 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:41.260 Miranda Delatore: Yeah. Thanks. Nico, excited to jump in and 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:45.700 really excited to be heading to Asembia here in just a couple 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:51.040 of days. So I'm Miranda Delatore. I am an oncology nurse by 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:56.020 training, and today I lead the product organization at CoverMyMeds 00:01:56.020 --> 00:02:00.100 that is responsible for building our specialty access 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:04.560 and affordability solutions. What's always driven my career, 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.880 both clinically and now in product, is seeing how much 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:13.080 unnecessary friction exists in the patient care journey, 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:18.480 medication access in particular, has become incredibly complex, 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:23.840 and the complexity touches every single stakeholder heading into 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:28.580 Asembia. What's on my mind, most, like many others, I'm 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:34.820 sure, is how AI and automation are reshaping patient access, 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:40.040 and one area in particular that I'm excited to dive into deeply 00:02:40.040 --> 00:02:44.440 through some of the agenda items and product theaters are really 00:02:44.440 --> 00:02:51.100 around how AI will transform digital hubs specifically in 00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:54.880 their intake process and by gaining some operational 00:02:54.880 --> 00:03:00.660 efficiencies across all of those specialty access workflows. And 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.980 I'm excited about this because it is squarely aligned to where 00:03:05.040 --> 00:03:09.420 my teams are focused on working today. So I can't wait to learn 00:03:09.420 --> 00:03:12.060 along with all of my colleagues out in Las Vegas, 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:18.180 Nico Saraceno: certainly a very exciting time. So Megan, would 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:19.920 you mind diving in as well? How about you? 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.060 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, happy to glad to be a part of this. Nico, 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:26.480 glad to have this conversation today. I am Megan Wetzel. I lead 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:28.940 our retail access and affordability product suite here 00:03:28.940 --> 00:03:32.000 at CoverMyMeds, and really for me, whether it's helping a 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.760 provider quickly get a patient started on therapy, if it's an 00:03:34.760 --> 00:03:37.040 everyday chronic medication, whether it's supporting a 00:03:37.040 --> 00:03:39.860 specialty provider to help them secure approval for some of 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:43.000 these life saving treatments, our tools here at CoverMyMeds 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.540 are designed to remove friction at every step. We support both 00:03:46.540 --> 00:03:49.600 retail and specialty pharmacies in helping patients afford the 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:52.660 medications that they need. And most recently, we're really 00:03:52.660 --> 00:03:55.540 innovating with our customers around new channels, even in the 00:03:55.540 --> 00:03:59.260 direct to patient world. So for me, affordability is really what 00:03:59.260 --> 00:04:01.380 is driving that kind of through line across all of our 00:04:01.380 --> 00:04:04.140 solutions, and I'm really excited to get to Asembia, 00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:07.800 start learning from my peers in this space, start seeing what 00:04:08.040 --> 00:04:10.800 other companies are out there innovating on, and really 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:13.680 starting to think how the industry is getting smarter, 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:15.600 stronger and really more efficient around their 00:04:15.600 --> 00:04:18.480 affordability models. That is something that I'm particularly 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.380 looking forward to this year. So excited for this conversation, 00:04:21.380 --> 00:04:23.360 and also excited for sembia 100% 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:27.560 Nico Saraceno: and obviously, if we can have that technology to 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:33.260 enable more more facility in terms of helping with patient 00:04:33.260 --> 00:04:36.740 affordability, I think nobody will be opposed to that. So 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:37.880 Fauzea, how about you? 00:04:39.020 --> 00:04:41.740 Fauzea Hussain: Hi, everybody. Fauzea was saying, I had a public 00:04:41.740 --> 00:04:46.000 policy here at McKesson, my team tracks state and federal policy 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.000 and translates it into real world impacts on patient, 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.600 access, Provider Reimbursement and how the life sciences 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:56.740 ecosystem operates. You know, after nearly three decades of 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:59.500 working at that intersection, it's clear we're in one of the 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:03.360 most. Sequential policy moments we've seen between Ira 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.840 implementation, drug pricing proposals, prior authorization, 00:05:06.840 --> 00:05:10.920 reform decisions that are being made today are materially going 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:14.580 to reshape how patients access therapy and how innovations 00:05:14.580 --> 00:05:18.180 reach the market. So what stands out for me as we head into 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:20.720 Asembia is the convergence of what we're seeing, right? So 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.480 we're seeing faster moving policy, rising, affordability 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:27.320 pressure and a more complex specialty pipeline, right and AI 00:05:27.320 --> 00:05:32.060 shifting from experimentation to expectation. The common thread 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:36.080 across all of that is access. It's not even a single moment. 00:05:36.140 --> 00:05:39.620 It seems like it's a system change, and it's increasingly 00:05:39.620 --> 00:05:43.180 going to show how these forces, how they interact, and they're 00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:46.060 really going to impact sort of longer term innovation and 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:49.240 access strategies. So excited to be here. Excited for Asembia, 00:05:51.580 --> 00:05:53.800 Nico Saraceno: definitely. Thank you so much. Fauzea. And of 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:57.940 course, last but not least, Ashwin in making up the final 00:05:57.940 --> 00:06:00.540 square in our Hollywood Squares. How about yourself? 00:06:01.200 --> 00:06:03.660 Ashwin Singhania: Yeah, great to see everyone, and I'm glad to be 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:06.540 a part of this. I'm Ashwin Singhania. I'm a partner with Life 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:10.080 Sciences strategy practice at EY-Parthenon. I've worked with 00:06:10.080 --> 00:06:13.680 biopharma for the last 25 years, you know, both with biopharma 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.960 itself, as well as with companies that are providing 00:06:15.960 --> 00:06:18.840 services to biopharma. I'm really looking forward to 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:22.220 today's conversation as access and affordability continue to 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:25.340 gain importance and are really integral in shaping launch 00:06:25.340 --> 00:06:28.520 strategy, investment decisions and long term growth for 00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:31.940 biopharma, I think we've all seen that therapies have become 00:06:31.940 --> 00:06:34.460 more complex, and with the policy and market pressures 00:06:34.460 --> 00:06:37.940 intensifying, how companies design for access and 00:06:37.940 --> 00:06:41.680 affordability is really at the forefront of being a strategic 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.820 differentiator for the brand itself. So thank you to the CMM 00:06:45.820 --> 00:06:48.100 team for having me, and back to you, Nico, 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.180 Nico Saraceno: thank you, Ashwin. And I think that's a 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:56.020 good segue into what we want to dive into first, obviously, the 00:06:56.140 --> 00:07:00.600 regulatory environments and things of that nature. So of 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:04.560 course, policy, I think many would agree that it's moving 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:08.700 faster than many organizations can currently keep up with. You 00:07:08.700 --> 00:07:13.800 have the IRA, you have the MF and also known as most favorite 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.700 nation pricing. You have Trump RX, prior authorization reform. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:23.360 So Fauzea, I'm curious if you could ground us in what's 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.680 actually happening at this point and what the biopharma industry 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:32.720 needs to be thinking about right now as a kind of a top of mind 00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:34.220 kind of kind of thoughts 00:07:34.820 --> 00:07:36.740 Fauzea Hussain: Nico, we could probably spend, like, the next 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:39.920 hour just talking about what's happened in the Last 24 hours 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:43.780 from a policy and regulatory environment, there is indeed a 00:07:43.780 --> 00:07:46.360 lot happening, and it's what we expected with this 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:51.220 administration and their high priority policy agenda. I think 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:54.880 what's notable right now isn't that there are multiple policy 00:07:54.880 --> 00:07:59.080 tracks that are advancing, it's that they're landing directly in 00:07:59.080 --> 00:08:03.000 that access and affordability workflow, I tend to think about 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.420 what's happening in three connected buckets. So the first 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:10.920 is pricing and reimbursement pressure, including the IRA or 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.560 inflation Reduction Act implementation, right, and the 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:16.860 Medicare drug negotiation program going live in Part D, 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:20.100 the most favored nation policies, as you've talked about 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:23.420 as well. These are all changing the incentives and the 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:27.740 underlying economics of access and affordability programs. The 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:30.440 second bucket is around utilization management and 00:08:30.440 --> 00:08:33.560 documentation requirements, including prior authorization 00:08:33.560 --> 00:08:37.880 reforms. These all affect what has to be submitted, how fast 00:08:37.880 --> 00:08:41.620 decisions are made, and how much friction exists across the 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:45.940 system. The third bucket is this, rising expectations for 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:48.940 transparency and data exchange. Right? Those are pushing the 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:52.660 ecosystem towards cleaner, more consistent information sharing 00:08:52.660 --> 00:08:56.440 across stakeholders. So individually, these can look 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:59.500 like they're separate policy issues, but in practice, they're 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:03.300 really a stack, and how they stack is really where you get at 00:09:03.300 --> 00:09:06.480 that intersection of how patients are going to actually 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:10.200 get to therapy. So it does lead to that practical question like, 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.900 What should biopharma be doing right now? And the reality is, 00:09:12.900 --> 00:09:16.320 they should be doing everything, all at once, all the time. But 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:19.320 maybe we can narrow it down to three sort of key strategic 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:22.940 moves. First is to design access strategies with policy 00:09:22.940 --> 00:09:26.480 volatility baked in pricing, reimbursement and benefit 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.840 designs are no longer stable backdrops to launch. They're 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.020 moving variables, so their strategies need to be built as 00:09:33.020 --> 00:09:37.220 adaptable architectures, not static programs tied to a single 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:41.740 policy moment. Second is to re anchor those market access 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:45.580 programs around the patient's first access decision, so as 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:48.940 utilization management tightens, success depends less on what 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:52.840 happens after approval, but it's more about what happens at 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:56.320 initiation. Right that place where coverage, affordability 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.960 and support intersect, the last strategic area. For biopharma to 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.420 consider would be is around their how are they designing 00:10:03.420 --> 00:10:06.180 their launch and their access strategies? You have to be 00:10:06.180 --> 00:10:09.780 thinking about system level performance, not at the point 00:10:09.780 --> 00:10:13.980 solutions. So as transparency expectations rise, fragmented 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:17.580 workflows become strategic liabilities. You really have to 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:20.160 be thinking about the clean data, the connected workflow. 00:10:20.760 --> 00:10:23.840 It's much more about that infrastructure than it is about 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:24.860 a single piece. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:29.360 Nico Saraceno: Yeah, I think you, I think you mentioned a key 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.340 word there Fauzea, is the data transparency. I think there's a 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:37.220 huge issue. Perhaps we'll dive into it later too. But there's 00:10:37.940 --> 00:10:41.260 these data silos that are kind of forming within each sector as 00:10:41.260 --> 00:10:44.860 well. So that gets a little a bit of a messy situation. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:53.800 Ashwin, I'll direct this to you, from your point of view. I kind 00:10:53.800 --> 00:10:57.340 of alluded to it earlier, this level of volatility, policy 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:00.720 volatility. How are the manufacturers in the bio farmer 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:04.680 space, responding to that. And what have you noticed in your 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:08.100 experience in your line of work? What are kind of the heavy 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:11.220 hitters or the smarter players doing more differently? That 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:13.920 meant maybe other companies can learn from 00:11:14.640 --> 00:11:17.580 Ashwin Singhania: Yeah, obviously it's not easy to plan 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:21.200 around the unknowns in the policy realm these days, but 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.980 some of the words that Fauzea used, volatility variables, are 00:11:24.980 --> 00:11:27.980 absolutely right. What we see pharma doing, and they've 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:31.400 actually gotten much better at this over the last couple of 00:11:31.400 --> 00:11:35.120 years, is relying on developing scenarios and contingencies and 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.000 then executing according the best information that they have 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.900 at the moment. And if they have to pivot, they've got a plan for 00:11:40.900 --> 00:11:43.960 that, right? So pricing and access are obviously at the 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:47.620 forefront of what biopharma is grappling with. You know, the 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:50.920 evolving policies not only have an impact on the US landscape, 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:55.180 but maybe a little bit contradictory. It's also how 00:11:55.180 --> 00:11:57.880 they're thinking about what to launch, when to launch, and what 00:11:57.880 --> 00:12:02.640 to price ex us. But anyway, back to the US here. There's clearly 00:12:02.640 --> 00:12:06.660 a need for early consideration on how to ensure that patients 00:12:06.660 --> 00:12:10.140 have access to the drugs that they can most benefit from. So 00:12:10.140 --> 00:12:12.780 these considerations have intensified across price 00:12:12.780 --> 00:12:16.200 setting, across channel strategy, across providing the 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:20.520 ecosystem with real time data and optimizing affordability. I 00:12:20.520 --> 00:12:24.440 think what we're seeing as best practices right now is really 00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:28.580 thinking through, what does it take to get a patient on drug 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:32.600 and keep a patient on drug early in the strategic planning? 00:12:34.760 --> 00:12:37.760 Nico Saraceno: That's I think that is the challenge. You hear 00:12:37.760 --> 00:12:40.900 about it time and time again, keeping that patient on track, 00:12:40.900 --> 00:12:45.280 and that whole discussion around medication adherence is a whole 00:12:45.280 --> 00:12:49.360 nother road to go down, of course, but Miranda or Megan Do 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:53.620 you? Do you ladies have anything to to add to what Fauzea or 00:12:53.680 --> 00:12:54.460 Ashton mentioned? 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:59.380 Miranda Delatore: Yeah, I think the need for flexibility shows 00:12:59.380 --> 00:13:04.620 up very clearly in the stack that Fauzea described in her 00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:08.700 opening, especially as it relates to those medication 00:13:08.700 --> 00:13:14.760 access workflows. As these multiple policies change and 00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:20.180 impact each other, it really translates into a set of new 00:13:20.300 --> 00:13:26.060 requirements and our care teams, nurses, physicians and office 00:13:26.060 --> 00:13:29.900 professionals, those are the folks who are in front of the 00:13:29.900 --> 00:13:35.060 patients every single day, and they feel that impact almost 00:13:35.060 --> 00:13:39.080 immediately. So when the workflows are fragmented, every 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:45.400 policy shift can add friction, and so we're thinking about that 00:13:45.400 --> 00:13:49.960 manual work and more delays that could potentially come from 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:55.600 those changes. If we embrace these as a complete system, you 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:00.900 can think about connecting the work really thinking about EHR 00:14:00.900 --> 00:14:06.240 embedded access workflows making it easier to absorb the changes 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.760 while maintaining consistency in platforms for our clinicians, 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:16.440 that predictability and consistency is really critical 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:21.440 in helping support our care teams so that they can actually 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:26.180 remain focused on the patients and support those therapy 00:14:26.180 --> 00:14:29.840 starts, regardless of how sort of the rules and requirements 00:14:29.900 --> 00:14:31.280 evolve around them. 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.120 Nico Saraceno: Definitely any sort of efficiencies in the 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.700 process that we can find is always, always appreciated. 00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:39.680 Megan, how about you anything to add? 00:14:40.160 --> 00:14:42.040 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, I think I would just double down on what 00:14:42.040 --> 00:14:45.040 Miranda said, specifically from the patient perspective, though, 00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:48.760 that policy complexity sometimes, almost oftentimes, 00:14:48.760 --> 00:14:52.060 shows up as an affordability barrier down the line. So 00:14:52.060 --> 00:14:54.940 thinking about even if you have coverage that exists, even if 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.520 you are thinking about the coverage that you might have 00:14:57.520 --> 00:15:00.480 available to you, if we don't think about benefit, does. And 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.300 how we think about utilization management upstream, and how do 00:15:03.300 --> 00:15:06.540 we make sure that we can try to avoid that barrier before it 00:15:06.540 --> 00:15:09.540 becomes a problem? I think those smart dynamics are going to be 00:15:09.540 --> 00:15:12.060 something that we need to think about holistically as these 00:15:12.060 --> 00:15:15.420 policies continue to change. So I think it's extremely important 00:15:15.420 --> 00:15:19.320 to not treat affordability as a downstream solution or a 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:23.060 reactive solution, making sure that we can implement tools and 00:15:23.060 --> 00:15:26.240 strategies up front as we understand patients coverage, so 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:29.420 that patients don't have a have a burden, and that then would 00:15:29.420 --> 00:15:32.960 result in a delay or they just abandon therapy altogether. So 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:36.260 really making sure that we can push that upstream as we adjust 00:15:36.260 --> 00:15:39.140 to policy changes, I think, is going to become very important 00:15:39.140 --> 00:15:39.380 for the 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.620 Nico Saraceno: patient, certainly. And I know we 00:15:44.620 --> 00:15:49.360 mentioned it at the top of the broadcast. But of course, 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:55.060 artificial intelligence, aka AI, be it as it may, in terms of it 00:15:55.060 --> 00:15:59.020 being a buzzword, it is very valuable. It's it's everywhere. 00:15:59.020 --> 00:16:05.040 So I think the impact Miranda was mentioning it too earlier. 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:09.420 It really comes down to how it's embedded in the workflow. So of 00:16:09.420 --> 00:16:13.680 course, Miranda, where are you seeing this? Ai, maybe specific 00:16:13.680 --> 00:16:17.460 cases, where are you seeing it? Remove friction when it comes to 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:22.640 that, patient support, providing these services, also medication, 00:16:22.640 --> 00:16:28.700 access, and how are you able to distinguish between that sort 00:16:28.700 --> 00:16:33.860 of, that AI that's embedded and actually helpful and useful, 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:37.700 versus AI that's just being layered on because I feel like 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:41.440 that's kind of the That's the constant struggle data that 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:42.520 we're dealing with today. 00:16:43.060 --> 00:16:46.840 Miranda Delatore: Yeah, Nico, it's such a deep conversation 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.780 that, again, I think we could spend quite a bit of time on 00:16:50.680 --> 00:16:55.840 when we talk about AI at CoverMyMeds, we are really talking 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:01.140 about the practical application. So we're thinking about it 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:08.100 inside of the tools that reduce friction, not just tools that 00:17:08.100 --> 00:17:13.680 generate buzz or fancy marketing material. And I think we talked 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.900 about this a little bit too, definitely a buzz word that 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.620 you're hearing across the conference circuit and really 00:17:21.620 --> 00:17:27.320 across all areas of business. But it's not a new thing 00:17:27.320 --> 00:17:31.580 anymore, and it's no longer a differentiator. It's really 00:17:31.580 --> 00:17:36.320 table stakes, especially when you're in the technology space. 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:41.260 So I think what matters now is how the technology is applied, 00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:47.980 and most importantly, how we're able to measure real impact. And 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:53.620 so I think that's a key piece of being able to measure the impact 00:17:53.620 --> 00:17:57.820 and ensuring that that impact is generating the value or the 00:17:57.820 --> 00:18:00.120 improvement in the process, regardless of if it's in 00:18:00.120 --> 00:18:03.780 healthcare or any other industry, specifically where 00:18:03.780 --> 00:18:08.700 we're seeing value today is where AI is embedded into those 00:18:08.760 --> 00:18:13.500 administrative workflows that were discussed earlier. So think 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:17.220 about the eligibility workflows to understand coverage, the 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:22.400 prior authorization workflows to understand if a patient's 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:26.720 medication will be covered, thinking about it as a key way 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.800 to reduce friction. Some of the things that we're using it 00:18:30.800 --> 00:18:36.200 specifically for today are organizing data, routing tasks, 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:41.200 checking eligibility, surfacing relevant clinical and benefit 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:46.240 information at the right moment in the prescriber or clinicians 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.700 workflow, when that work happens in the background, our care 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:57.400 teams are able to spend less time digging through their EHR 00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:01.200 hunting for those answers, and they're actually able to spend 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:06.960 more time acting on the information. So when we're 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:12.540 intentional about what is being surfaced in front of the 00:19:12.540 --> 00:19:16.620 clinician, we're also intentional about how that 00:19:16.620 --> 00:19:23.360 clinician stays in the loop clinicians like myself, we went 00:19:23.360 --> 00:19:27.260 to school to take care of patients, to help people, and I 00:19:27.260 --> 00:19:31.880 think it's really important that we are able to remain in control 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:37.100 of those decisions. As it relates to therapy initiation, I 00:19:37.100 --> 00:19:41.140 like to think about AI and automation now as sort of a 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:47.140 technology superpower that works alongside of the clinician in 00:19:47.140 --> 00:19:51.820 the background, just to make those submissions cleaner and 00:19:51.820 --> 00:19:56.980 more complete with less manual effort, but not acting 00:19:56.980 --> 00:20:01.080 independently of that clinical judgment. So. So the focus for 00:20:01.080 --> 00:20:06.420 us now is really on scaling what's working in a way that 00:20:06.420 --> 00:20:11.340 keeps those trusted experts at the center. Speed and efficiency 00:20:11.340 --> 00:20:15.120 are really important, and that's what you'll see on the taglines 00:20:15.120 --> 00:20:19.800 of the side of so many booths, I'm sure. But we can't lose 00:20:19.800 --> 00:20:24.620 focus on the empathy and trust that are so critical in 00:20:24.620 --> 00:20:29.660 healthcare, especially as you talk about higher complexity 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:34.820 disease processes like oncology, where quite honestly, the stakes 00:20:34.820 --> 00:20:37.160 in care are incredibly high. 00:20:39.740 --> 00:20:41.800 Nico Saraceno: Most definitely they couldn't be they couldn't 00:20:41.800 --> 00:20:45.220 be any higher. And I really like what you said, Miranda, about 00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:49.660 using AI as a supplement. And I mean, essentially, at the end of 00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:55.480 the day, it's supposed to simplify clinicians lives and 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:58.900 give them more time to actually do what matters in the space. So 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:03.900 that's that's definitely a very important takeaway. Now, Megan 00:21:03.900 --> 00:21:10.200 from from the affordability side of things, what are you seeing 00:21:11.520 --> 00:21:15.900 AI doing in terms of changing the patient experience 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:20.540 specifically, specific instances. And I'm also curious, 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.740 what have you noticed in terms of problems that it's helping to 00:21:24.740 --> 00:21:28.520 solve that maybe even a few years ago weren't even solvable, 00:21:28.520 --> 00:21:31.160 were even like an afterthought of being possible? What have you 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:32.480 noticed as of late? 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:35.840 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, that's a great question. One of the most 00:21:35.840 --> 00:21:38.960 powerful applications that we've been kind of monitoring is this 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:41.740 real time benefit insight like Miranda was touching on. So 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:46.000 really being able to surface a patient's true out of pocket 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.940 exposure kind of accurately right in the moment for any 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.240 member of the care team to look at is really going to change 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:54.880 what those care teams are able to do, like more upstream in the 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:57.220 process. So where they're with the patient, they're discussing 00:21:57.220 --> 00:21:59.260 options with the patient. You know, how do we make sure that 00:21:59.260 --> 00:22:01.800 we understand what that patient might be covered for, what their 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.100 out of pocket expenses might be. So having access to that is a 00:22:05.100 --> 00:22:07.980 really powerful application. We're also seeing these, as 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:10.740 Miranda mentioned as well, these automated eligibility checks 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:13.620 like this is genuinely moving the needle kind of on where AI 00:22:13.620 --> 00:22:16.800 is helping in this space. They used to be manual. They used to 00:22:16.800 --> 00:22:19.920 be kind of error prone processes that were led by humans. Takes 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.640 hours, and now it's taking seconds to get these kind of 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:26.600 real time eligibility updates, and not just for support teams, 00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:29.480 but in the hands of those care teams that are making decisions 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:32.240 when the patient is right there, which is incredibly meaningful. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.640 But the thing that I think is most interesting from an 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:37.340 affordability perspective is how it enables some of that 00:22:37.340 --> 00:22:40.900 integration, and how do we think about closing the gap before a 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:45.220 patient faces a burden. So typically, historically, we were 00:22:45.280 --> 00:22:48.580 solving hurdles as a patient faces them, which is a helpful 00:22:48.580 --> 00:22:51.520 way to help patients through the funnel. But what AI can do is 00:22:51.760 --> 00:22:55.420 start predicting where a patient might face an affordability 00:22:55.420 --> 00:22:58.000 barrier, and how do we close that gap to making sure that 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.140 they have the tools, support, information that they need at 00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:03.960 that time so they can make a decision before they face a 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:06.600 barrier, versus right now, kind of showing up into their 00:23:06.600 --> 00:23:09.300 pharmacy or where they're getting their drug administered, 00:23:09.300 --> 00:23:12.120 and then facing a barrier and not having those options at 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:15.420 hand. So I think one of these things are thinking about these 00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:18.600 AI power tools and how they can make a real difference in 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.260 connecting these solutions in a more real time way. 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:25.820 Nico Saraceno: I love that. And I think it kind of builds off 00:23:25.820 --> 00:23:28.520 that adage, or getting rid of that adage, cross that bridge 00:23:28.520 --> 00:23:31.280 when we get there. Now, it's like, Okay, let's get 25 steps 00:23:31.280 --> 00:23:33.740 in front of it, and let's save the pace and the burden of 00:23:33.740 --> 00:23:37.520 having to deal with it in the moment. So that's fantastic. So 00:23:38.780 --> 00:23:44.080 Ashwin kind of building on what Megan dove into. Where are you 00:23:44.080 --> 00:23:49.480 seeing just the biggest gap between how these biopharma 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:54.100 companies are discussing AI and how they're actually deploying 00:23:54.100 --> 00:23:57.820 it? Is there? How big is that disparity, or that disconnect 00:23:57.820 --> 00:23:58.120 there? 00:23:58.840 --> 00:24:01.440 Ashwin Singhania: Yeah, I think it's improving with every 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.220 passing day, to be sure. But what we see is that there are 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:08.220 many efforts that are still stuck in pilots or point 00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:11.340 solutions that don't really change the day to day access 00:24:11.340 --> 00:24:15.060 workflows, and that workflow component is what's most 00:24:15.060 --> 00:24:17.820 critical, right? So the companies that are starting to 00:24:17.820 --> 00:24:21.380 see impact on how they're enabling access and 00:24:21.380 --> 00:24:24.980 affordability. Start with a clearly defined friction point, 00:24:24.980 --> 00:24:28.640 and use AI as the enabler, as opposed to the strategy in 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:33.380 itself, and they embed it into existing workflows that allow 00:24:33.380 --> 00:24:36.860 for the humans to do what they need to do right, which is what 00:24:36.860 --> 00:24:41.320 they're best at as caretakers, et cetera. I think that the 00:24:41.320 --> 00:24:44.560 second part of what companies who are sort of ahead on the 00:24:44.560 --> 00:24:49.120 curve are doing is thinking early about trust and governance 00:24:49.360 --> 00:24:52.720 and building that into gating factors as they scale with 00:24:52.780 --> 00:24:57.880 reliability, data explainability and then auditability becoming 00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:01.800 essential as more and more. Are these tools, are customer 00:25:01.800 --> 00:25:04.860 facing, and as the regulatory environment unfolds here, 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:13.800 Nico Saraceno: definitely, definitely, I know Miranda, you 00:25:13.800 --> 00:25:19.680 started getting into it. How are you thinking about this, this 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:24.500 process of building clinician trust in AI system workflows, I 00:25:24.500 --> 00:25:27.020 feel like this is something that comes up time and time again. 00:25:27.020 --> 00:25:32.060 There's still a ton of hesitancy across the industry to kind of 00:25:32.060 --> 00:25:35.780 adapt some of these processes. So how are you working on 00:25:35.780 --> 00:25:40.540 building that? Especially we mentioned the high stakes 00:25:40.540 --> 00:25:43.840 settings like oncology, where even more so, the higher the 00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:46.180 stakes, the higher the hesitancy. What is your 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:49.420 technique to help ease that transition a little bit? I 00:25:50.860 --> 00:25:54.040 Miranda Delatore: think we are definitely on a journey as an 00:25:54.040 --> 00:25:58.900 industry and sort of working together to figure it out, 00:25:58.900 --> 00:26:03.780 because the pace of change is just moving so quickly, building 00:26:03.780 --> 00:26:08.820 clinician trust, I think, is really absolutely important, 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:12.240 first of all, from an adoption perspective. But I think being 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:17.280 clear and explicit that it is assistive and it's not replacing 00:26:18.060 --> 00:26:23.840 being clear around transparency and finding as many 00:26:23.840 --> 00:26:30.560 opportunities as possible to embed the technology in existing 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:35.780 tools, and specifically not asking these clinicians to 00:26:35.780 --> 00:26:40.600 remember one more website, one more username, one more password 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:46.420 to go log into something different. The consequences of 00:26:46.420 --> 00:26:52.360 error in health care are high, and in some cases, they can be 00:26:53.380 --> 00:26:59.680 quite immediate. So the trust aspect is so important. Trust, I 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:05.880 think, will come over time and will be earned from using AI and 00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:09.780 validating that it can reduce cognitive and administrative 00:27:09.780 --> 00:27:13.800 burden without displacing clinical judgment. So this is 00:27:13.800 --> 00:27:16.320 what I was talking about earlier, handling those 00:27:16.320 --> 00:27:20.060 background tasks, surfacing that relevant information at the 00:27:20.060 --> 00:27:25.700 point of care and making processes more consistent and 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:30.320 not less understandable. So to me, when I think about building 00:27:30.320 --> 00:27:33.980 trust, there are really three things that I believe are non 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:40.460 negotiable. It's explainability, visibility and clinician 00:27:40.520 --> 00:27:44.920 control. Explainability, visibility and clinician 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:50.980 control. AI should make its reasoning really clear, and a 00:27:50.980 --> 00:27:55.660 human should be able to follow it, integrating cleanly into 00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:59.800 existing workflows, as I mentioned, and then supporting 00:27:59.800 --> 00:28:04.200 confident clinical decision making without introducing 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:08.880 additional questions, uncertainty or friction. Nico, 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:13.380 it won't happen overnight, but over time and use and proof 00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:15.720 points, I think that's how trust will be built. That 00:28:17.280 --> 00:28:19.560 Nico Saraceno: was that was a great breakdown, Miranda, and 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:22.580 you kind of led me into something. I was going to ask 00:28:22.580 --> 00:28:25.340 you a follow up, actually, if you could quantify, I don't even 00:28:25.340 --> 00:28:28.760 know if this is possible, but if you could quantify, how long of 00:28:28.760 --> 00:28:32.600 a timeframe Do you think that'll take? Is this like a several 00:28:32.600 --> 00:28:35.300 years long process to kind of become more fully comfortable 00:28:35.300 --> 00:28:37.640 with it, or is it like a case by case basis? What are your 00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:37.880 thoughts 00:28:38.120 --> 00:28:41.380 Miranda Delatore: on that? Yeah, I don't think it's a several 00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:46.240 years process anymore. I think the rate of change and 00:28:46.300 --> 00:28:50.740 iteration, the way that technology driven companies are 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:56.260 hearing feedback from their users and making changes hourly, 00:28:56.320 --> 00:29:01.740 in some cases, and daily. I think as long as that feedback 00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:06.900 loop continues, I think we'll we'll be surprised that it's 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:12.420 some quantifiable number of months based on based on use 00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:16.380 case, and probably not on the side of, like three to five 00:29:16.380 --> 00:29:19.680 years. I think we're going to move really quickly, but hearing 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:24.620 that feedback and adjusting to it will be absolutely important 00:29:24.620 --> 00:29:25.400 in the process. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:28.100 Nico Saraceno: Great, yeah, that's that's not bad at all. I 00:29:28.100 --> 00:29:30.680 was being very conservative with that projection. So that's a 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:36.020 nice, pleasant surprise there. So I just wanted to shift gears 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:41.860 to kind of taking a look at what we said earlier, that's this 00:29:41.860 --> 00:29:46.480 specialty pipeline. It's it's historic, in a sense that it's 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:51.580 never been as robust as it is now, especially diving into the 00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:56.260 oncology space, as we've been discussing. But you have to look 00:29:56.260 --> 00:29:58.900 at the other side of it as well. A robust, a robust pipeline 00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:03.604 doesn't. Always translate to providing better patient access, 00:30:03.844 --> 00:30:07.504 as all of you know. So Miranda, I'll flip this back to you here. 00:30:08.464 --> 00:30:13.924 What's changing and what kind of needs to change faster when it 00:30:13.924 --> 00:30:18.784 comes to bettering patient access, even amongst this, this 00:30:18.784 --> 00:30:22.460 huge pipeline that we're that we're currently dealing with. 00:30:24.380 --> 00:30:28.400 Miranda Delatore: I remember when I took my first role as a 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:32.120 direct patient care nurse in hematology and oncology many 00:30:32.120 --> 00:30:37.100 years ago, and hearing about this future state where 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:41.860 specialty drugs would become more of a driving force in the 00:30:41.860 --> 00:30:45.700 industry than retail drugs, and I recall feeling like that was 00:30:45.700 --> 00:30:49.480 so far away, and we're here right like that is not something 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:53.020 that is happening in the future. The specialty pipeline is 00:30:53.020 --> 00:30:57.520 absolutely extraordinary right now, and oncology in particular, 00:30:57.520 --> 00:31:02.160 as we've touched on a couple times, I think nearly 30% of all 00:31:02.220 --> 00:31:08.640 novel drug approvals in 24 were oncology therapies. And for me, 00:31:08.760 --> 00:31:12.720 I think the cool thing is that these, many of these, are now 00:31:12.780 --> 00:31:17.700 being biomarker driven and cell based and really highly 00:31:17.700 --> 00:31:22.160 personalized, which is fundamentally changing the way 00:31:22.340 --> 00:31:26.960 that patients experience and thrive through an oncology 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:31.220 diagnosis. But if I'm you know, continuing to reflect what 00:31:31.220 --> 00:31:35.660 hasn't kept pace is the access infrastructure that's required 00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:40.960 to deliver these therapies reliably. Treatment is becoming 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:44.800 more precise. We're seeing those outcomes, and the number of 00:31:44.800 --> 00:31:49.840 dependencies required to start those therapies is increasing. 00:31:50.020 --> 00:31:53.080 So you can think about things like biomarker testing, lab 00:31:53.080 --> 00:31:58.360 results, benefit design, prior authorization, site of care 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:03.300 decisions, each step is clinically necessary and really 00:32:03.300 --> 00:32:06.900 important to the patient, but when they live in disconnected 00:32:06.900 --> 00:32:14.940 systems and and even if a single input is delayed or, you know, 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.680 not processed appropriately, that results in a delay of 00:32:19.740 --> 00:32:23.600 treatment start for the patient, sometimes that's days, and 00:32:23.600 --> 00:32:28.100 sometimes that's weeks, that gap between the scientific 00:32:28.100 --> 00:32:34.280 innovation and the operational readiness has had a historical 00:32:34.280 --> 00:32:39.200 path of widening, and I think it's a remit for all of us in 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:44.320 the industry to think about how we can close that gap. We know 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:48.160 prior authorization remains a major contributor in that 00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:55.120 process, and that treatment delays can exist when a prior 00:32:55.120 --> 00:32:58.840 authorization isn't processed electronically, when 00:32:59.020 --> 00:33:05.400 methodologies like phone or a fax machine are used to try to 00:33:06.420 --> 00:33:10.440 help that patient get started, and that directly impacts 00:33:10.500 --> 00:33:14.580 outcomes. I think at the practice level, fragmentation 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:19.380 really does compound the problem. Care teams are really 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:23.420 working through these disconnected tools. I think I 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:27.140 was on site with a practice a couple of months ago, and I 00:33:27.140 --> 00:33:32.960 counted there were, I don't know, seven to nine different 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:36.740 disconnected tools that were being used to work on getting 00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:42.400 approval for one patient, for one treatment plan, and that 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:47.440 comes with the cognitive and operational burden, and quite 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:52.780 honestly, it it simply doesn't scale the way that the drug 00:33:52.780 --> 00:33:57.460 pipeline and precision oncology is moving in the world. So I 00:33:57.460 --> 00:34:03.420 think what needs to change faster is really the assumption 00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:08.220 that access is separate from clinical care, and oncology will 00:34:08.220 --> 00:34:14.340 continue to use that therapeutic area. Access really is care, and 00:34:14.340 --> 00:34:17.400 if we want innovation to translate into outcomes, access 00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:21.320 workflows have to be designed and evaluated with the same 00:34:21.380 --> 00:34:26.180 rigor as our clinical pathways, and I think that that's 00:34:26.180 --> 00:34:30.320 something that we don't do a good enough job of talking about 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:34.520 together, but they are really interlinked, and both have an 00:34:34.520 --> 00:34:35.780 impact on The patient, 00:34:37.460 --> 00:34:41.020 Nico Saraceno: most definitely and Miranda, you mentioned the 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:46.540 infrastructure component as being one of the main lagging 00:34:46.540 --> 00:34:49.540 issues, or the main, quote, unquote, more, more of a 00:34:49.540 --> 00:34:53.620 weakness, per se. So Ashwin, I think you'd be perfect to 00:34:53.620 --> 00:34:56.800 provide some perspective on this from the biopharma strategy kind 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:00.900 of perspective. How are companies think? About this 00:35:01.560 --> 00:35:05.400 infrastructure from a specialty access perspective, especially 00:35:05.520 --> 00:35:08.700 as they're looking to launch into more complex disease areas 00:35:08.700 --> 00:35:12.060 where, where are their minds at in that space and kind of going 00:35:12.060 --> 00:35:13.080 through that process, 00:35:13.739 --> 00:35:16.139 Ashwin Singhania: their minds are with grappling, you know, 00:35:16.139 --> 00:35:18.959 through all of the questions that Miranda just highlighted 00:35:18.959 --> 00:35:22.699 here, even with it, we say specialty in oncology, like it's 00:35:22.699 --> 00:35:25.399 a monolith. It's not right at the highest level, you've got 00:35:25.399 --> 00:35:29.299 pharmacy benefit drugs. You have medical benefit drugs. Does it 00:35:29.299 --> 00:35:34.099 need bi directional information, like autologous car T Do you 00:35:34.099 --> 00:35:37.219 have a site of care issue like a bispecific where you might need 00:35:37.219 --> 00:35:41.559 to start a subset of those inpatient et cetera? What we're 00:35:41.559 --> 00:35:44.499 seeing is that biopharma recognizes that there's the 00:35:44.499 --> 00:35:48.459 complexity in the workflows here, and is mapping those with 00:35:48.459 --> 00:35:53.559 really kind of a huge level of detail. You know, in their early 00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:56.319 work, they used to do things like patient flows, what's going 00:35:56.319 --> 00:35:58.779 on with the patient, where are they going, and then the funds 00:35:58.779 --> 00:36:01.979 flow. How are all these things getting paid for increasingly, 00:36:01.979 --> 00:36:05.639 we see them mapping the data flow as well, right? How is all 00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:08.579 the information being transmitted across the 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:11.999 ecosystem? And biopharma understands that as the 00:36:11.999 --> 00:36:15.599 complexity of their portfolios has ballooned, they need to be 00:36:15.659 --> 00:36:20.539 thinking beyond simple hubs into more partnerships that allow for 00:36:20.539 --> 00:36:24.259 real time information and can draw insights for these 00:36:24.259 --> 00:36:28.339 increasingly segmented or smaller patient populations. As 00:36:28.579 --> 00:36:31.399 the therapies really become more complex and often more 00:36:31.399 --> 00:36:34.579 expensive, biopharma is looking for solutions that can 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:37.939 accommodate more demanding pa requirements, prior 00:36:37.939 --> 00:36:41.499 authorization requirements, care coordination requirements, and 00:36:41.499 --> 00:36:44.499 then the affordability requirements. So we're in an era 00:36:44.499 --> 00:36:48.219 where biopharma is looking for solutions that don't take days 00:36:48.279 --> 00:36:52.659 or weeks to coordinate care. They want it as real time as 00:36:52.659 --> 00:36:54.039 they can possibly get it. 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:57.940 Nico Saraceno: That is comforting to hear that they're 00:36:57.940 --> 00:37:02.760 they are on the same page with that now. Megan from the 00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:05.880 affordability side of things when it comes to specialty, 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:10.560 could you maybe provide a look into that and how that's kind of 00:37:10.560 --> 00:37:11.160 moving along? 00:37:11.699 --> 00:37:14.399 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, happy to the affordability dimension and 00:37:14.399 --> 00:37:17.399 specialty is very interesting, because we're talking about very 00:37:17.399 --> 00:37:20.659 complex drugs that are very expensive, and so when you think 00:37:20.659 --> 00:37:23.719 about a patient who might have cleared all of the access 00:37:23.719 --> 00:37:26.539 hurdles, they have their prior authorization approved, they 00:37:26.539 --> 00:37:29.719 have coverage from their insurance provider, but now they 00:37:29.719 --> 00:37:33.559 face a $5,000 co pay. This is still a failure in the system 00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:35.899 and still a burden that we have to think about when we're 00:37:35.899 --> 00:37:39.079 getting patients on care just a couple of stats that I know 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:41.679 we've been talking about more holistically, but the 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:44.919 prescription use in the US continues to climb. The total 00:37:44.919 --> 00:37:49.239 days on therapy is is continuing to increase. We know that more 00:37:49.239 --> 00:37:52.599 than 60% of adults are taking some sort of prescription 00:37:52.599 --> 00:37:56.379 medication. And we know that, as Miranda mentioned before, at the 00:37:56.379 --> 00:37:59.199 same time, these specialty drugs are accounting for more of 90% 00:37:59.559 --> 00:38:04.199 of new launches last year, which so we have to be acutely aware 00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:07.739 of these very high co pays, these very high affordability 00:38:07.739 --> 00:38:10.139 challenges that these patients are going to face, even after 00:38:10.139 --> 00:38:13.199 you get through the access challenges, or maybe even 00:38:13.199 --> 00:38:17.219 potentially clear those access challenges. I think something 00:38:17.219 --> 00:38:21.259 most interesting to me to think about is what we mentioned a 00:38:21.259 --> 00:38:23.899 little bit earlier, is how do we think about affordability as a 00:38:23.899 --> 00:38:26.719 part of that upstream process? You typically think about 00:38:27.019 --> 00:38:29.719 access, and you typically think about coverage, and when you're 00:38:29.719 --> 00:38:32.479 thinking about launching your your brand, but making sure that 00:38:32.479 --> 00:38:35.479 you think about your affordability strategy upstream 00:38:35.479 --> 00:38:37.579 could be in a very important step, especially in the 00:38:37.579 --> 00:38:40.279 specialty world, because we know that these affordability burdens 00:38:40.279 --> 00:38:44.079 are going to be so much so much higher due to the complexity of 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:46.659 the the nature of the drug. So thinking about how to integrate 00:38:46.659 --> 00:38:49.299 those affordability solutions into the workflow, as Miranda 00:38:49.299 --> 00:38:51.699 mentioned, how do we get these care teams the real time 00:38:51.699 --> 00:38:54.399 information they need? How do we make sure that the decisions 00:38:54.399 --> 00:38:56.979 that are needed to be made are being made up front, and the 00:38:56.979 --> 00:38:59.859 support tools that are out there are being made available to the 00:38:59.859 --> 00:39:03.179 patient and the care teams upstream so that decisions can 00:39:03.179 --> 00:39:06.899 be made and the whole process can be more seamless, really 00:39:06.899 --> 00:39:10.619 thinking about the connectivity that happens between access and 00:39:10.619 --> 00:39:13.199 affordability, and thinking holistically about how we can 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:15.839 support these patients, I think will be incredibly important, 00:39:15.839 --> 00:39:17.399 especially in the specialty space, 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:21.260 Fauzea Hussain: and maybe Nico, I'll just jump in real quick, 00:39:21.260 --> 00:39:23.900 just as I was hearing the the conversation, and a couple of 00:39:23.900 --> 00:39:27.440 things sort of struck out to me, right? Is that need for 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:30.920 interoperability, and being able to communicate across these 00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:34.220 disparate systems like in real time, and that's really a place 00:39:34.220 --> 00:39:37.580 where we have seen a significant amount of policy and regulatory 00:39:37.580 --> 00:39:41.140 activity, right, with a with a strong and consistent effort to, 00:39:41.140 --> 00:39:44.440 kind of like, deregulate, to get rid of those barriers and to 00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:48.040 actually encourage that interoperable data sharing and 00:39:48.040 --> 00:39:51.100 flow. What I think sometimes is missing from the conversation, 00:39:51.100 --> 00:39:56.020 though, is about the need that that brings to upgrade our data 00:39:56.020 --> 00:39:59.500 infrastructure. Right when you think about, you know, recent 00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:02.280 Medicare. Policies about reducing, you know, prior 00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:06.300 authorization times across all payers, right? 24 hours for, you 00:40:06.300 --> 00:40:09.780 know, urgent request, 72 hours for a standard. Pa, I think 00:40:09.780 --> 00:40:12.180 those policies are great, because what they do is they set 00:40:12.180 --> 00:40:15.600 the standard and where we want to go, but how we get there 00:40:15.600 --> 00:40:19.140 becomes a little bit more complicated. And how does the 00:40:19.140 --> 00:40:23.060 entire ecosystem invest in those technology upgrades that are 00:40:23.060 --> 00:40:25.760 going to be needed to actually create interoperability, 00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:28.100 especially with smaller providers or community 00:40:28.100 --> 00:40:31.040 providers, that's a lot of investment, that's a lot of 00:40:31.040 --> 00:40:34.520 learning. And I just wanted to flag that, because I think that 00:40:34.520 --> 00:40:37.040 is like a key concern as we think about modernizing the 00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:39.920 processes, I feel like there's so much potential at our 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:42.340 fingertips, but at some point we're going to have to take a 00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:44.980 step back and say, okay, but wait, how much do we need to 00:40:44.980 --> 00:40:48.280 invest to actually bring everybody up with us, right? So 00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:51.100 it's an all ships will rise and all patients will benefit. 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:56.320 Otherwise we risk pockets right of disparity continuing. So just 00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:57.820 wanted to throw that in. 00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.159 Nico Saraceno: Thanks, Fauzea, I'll open up the floor if any of 00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:08.339 you all had anything to build on or anything like that. All set. 00:41:08.399 --> 00:41:12.539 Okay, fantastic. So I know we have a lot of hard hitting 00:41:13.019 --> 00:41:16.319 topics to get to, including, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk 00:41:16.319 --> 00:41:23.839 about the GLP-1 space. They've been top of everyone's minds the 00:41:23.839 --> 00:41:31.819 past two or so odd years, and the story continues So Megan as 00:41:31.879 --> 00:41:38.479 it stands right now here in 2026 what is the access landscape 00:41:38.479 --> 00:41:45.219 looking like for GLP-1s. And where do you see things heading, 00:41:45.279 --> 00:41:47.799 you know, the rest of the year, perhaps down the road here, 00:41:47.859 --> 00:41:51.039 what's kind of the progress being made and in that space? 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.460 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, happy to, happy to talk through GLP-1s. 00:41:54.460 --> 00:41:58.420 It's a it's an interesting topic. The GLP-1 story is, is 00:41:58.420 --> 00:42:02.340 genuinely complex. It continues to get more complex as there's 00:42:02.340 --> 00:42:05.460 new indications this class continues to expand. And the 00:42:05.460 --> 00:42:09.180 interesting part about this is that demand continues to surge, 00:42:09.180 --> 00:42:11.820 so the effectiveness of these programs, we are seeing them now 00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:14.280 play out in real time. To your point, Nico, these aren't just 00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:16.800 solutions that are net new to the market anymore. These are 00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:19.440 patients that are established on some of these therapies as well. 00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:23.000 And so it's and that demand continues to surge. But as the 00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:27.560 demand continues to surge, the access landscape is still pretty 00:42:27.560 --> 00:42:32.900 uneven. So it very much depends on payer, indication, geography, 00:42:32.900 --> 00:42:35.240 a patient's clinical information, all of those things 00:42:35.240 --> 00:42:37.820 are factoring into the access that it takes for a patient to 00:42:37.820 --> 00:42:41.500 get on one of these medications. So in knowing that the demand is 00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:44.200 so high, you think about this very large patient population, 00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.920 even small friction points that historically would have been 00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:50.560 small in a smaller therapeutic class are causing a massive 00:42:50.560 --> 00:42:53.560 amount of patients to to feel that burden, even if it's a 00:42:53.560 --> 00:42:56.800 historically small friction point. So I think this, um, this 00:42:56.800 --> 00:42:59.380 is causing a lot of discussion around different channels and 00:42:59.380 --> 00:43:01.920 the adoption of different channels. How do we think about 00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:04.980 supporting patients in a way that they need to be supported 00:43:04.980 --> 00:43:08.340 in that given moment based on their unique access challenges? 00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:11.160 So you'll see traditional retail channels. You'll see the 00:43:11.160 --> 00:43:13.680 specialty channels. You're also seeing direct to patient, 00:43:13.680 --> 00:43:16.380 channels that are coming out direct to employer, channels 00:43:16.380 --> 00:43:19.740 that are starting to think about different ways for patients to 00:43:19.740 --> 00:43:23.180 access medications and thinking about their affordability, there 00:43:23.180 --> 00:43:26.840 is not one single answer for how one individual patient should 00:43:26.840 --> 00:43:31.640 access a GLP, one in a in an easy way, it is very dependent 00:43:31.640 --> 00:43:34.100 on that specific patient's history and that specific 00:43:34.100 --> 00:43:38.480 patient's journey and what they might be faced with. And add on 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:41.380 top of the access challenges, we are also seeing affordability 00:43:41.380 --> 00:43:45.880 challenges in these spaces. These are medications that are 00:43:46.120 --> 00:43:48.460 administered in different ways and various different 00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:51.580 indications that are happening for these medications. So it's 00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:54.160 it's something to think about across the board, from both 00:43:54.160 --> 00:43:56.800 access and affordability. But the thing that is coming to mind 00:43:56.800 --> 00:44:00.180 most for me in this space is thinking about how you can 00:44:00.720 --> 00:44:04.800 continue to interoperably create these interoperable situations. 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:07.620 How do you think about bringing patients together? How do you 00:44:07.620 --> 00:44:10.380 get more targeted on what that patient might need at that given 00:44:10.380 --> 00:44:13.980 time? How do you think about getting smarter, more real time, 00:44:14.220 --> 00:44:17.040 access to what that specific patient might need? And then, 00:44:17.040 --> 00:44:19.560 how do you think about what that what channel that patient might 00:44:19.560 --> 00:44:22.520 need to go down? And how do we bring that all together so that 00:44:22.520 --> 00:44:25.400 patients can kind of clearly go through this journey in a way 00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:27.860 that's easy to understand, and they know that their options are 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:30.800 ahead of them. Thinking about kind of closing these gaps is 00:44:30.860 --> 00:44:33.140 going to be something that we have to think about at scale 00:44:33.140 --> 00:44:35.480 like I mentioned. So how do we think about doing this 00:44:35.480 --> 00:44:38.600 efficiently across all channels and and how do we think about 00:44:38.600 --> 00:44:40.600 keeping the patient at the center of that is going to be 00:44:40.600 --> 00:44:41.920 the most important part, 00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:45.160 Nico Saraceno: certainly, and keeping the patient at the 00:44:45.160 --> 00:44:48.700 center of it, when there's such a plethora of options, it's a 00:44:48.700 --> 00:44:51.340 beautiful thing, but same time being able to simplify that as 00:44:51.340 --> 00:44:56.500 well. So Ashwin from the strategy side of things, how 00:44:56.500 --> 00:45:01.980 does it How does it look from your end? What. Are. What is the 00:45:01.980 --> 00:45:07.080 effects of GLP-1s on this access model, as it stands right 00:45:07.080 --> 00:45:07.380 now? 00:45:08.460 --> 00:45:10.860 Ashwin Singhania: Oh, this space is so much fun. I mean, we're 00:45:10.860 --> 00:45:15.120 still at the very, very beginning of the GLP-1, gip, 00:45:15.120 --> 00:45:19.560 Amlin, etc, journey, right? And the complexities that Megan is 00:45:19.560 --> 00:45:22.580 describing, we're just at the beginning, right? You? I think 00:45:22.580 --> 00:45:25.040 you've got three forces here. One, you've got the 00:45:25.040 --> 00:45:28.580 proliferation of channels, as Megan was talking about. So 00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:31.880 you've got your traditional pharmacy channels today, retail 00:45:31.880 --> 00:45:35.540 and mail order. You've got, from my count, three different 00:45:35.540 --> 00:45:38.360 flavors of direct to patient channels, digital storefronts 00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:41.860 and pharmacies, the telehealth led models and the manufactured 00:45:41.860 --> 00:45:45.340 direct models, and the emergency the employer models that that 00:45:45.340 --> 00:45:48.400 Megan was speaking to as well. So that's kind of force one. 00:45:48.400 --> 00:45:52.720 Force Two is the proliferation of products. We're in the era 00:45:52.720 --> 00:45:55.120 right where the orals are launching, and we all know the 00:45:55.120 --> 00:45:58.660 stats around how deep the biopharma pipeline is in this 00:45:58.660 --> 00:46:02.280 space. So you're going to have this huge number of products in 00:46:02.280 --> 00:46:06.360 the market. And third is the proliferation of indications. 00:46:06.660 --> 00:46:10.800 And so right now, we're sort of in the era of diabetes and 00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:14.520 obesity and sort of cardiovascular, you know, 00:46:14.520 --> 00:46:19.020 related indications. But what happens when we have the 00:46:19.260 --> 00:46:23.360 autoimmune indications and the oncology use cases that are in 00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:26.900 the literature and starting to come to the clinical pipeline as 00:46:26.900 --> 00:46:30.680 part of the decision making here as well for these products. So 00:46:30.680 --> 00:46:34.160 now we're marrying these mass market products, think sort of 00:46:34.160 --> 00:46:38.240 statins or anti hypertensives in the old world, with what we were 00:46:38.240 --> 00:46:41.680 talking about earlier, specialty in oncology, types of products, 00:46:41.980 --> 00:46:47.440 and it just becomes so complex to try to get patients to 00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:52.960 therapy in a streamlined manner here. So what I've kind of seen, 00:46:52.960 --> 00:46:56.560 and what some people are sort of thinking about, is in the 00:46:56.560 --> 00:46:59.740 marketing realm, you have omni channel, right? How do you marry 00:46:59.740 --> 00:47:03.960 all these channels? It's almost omni channel market access. How 00:47:03.960 --> 00:47:08.040 do you marry all the channels in a coordinated fashion, so that 00:47:08.040 --> 00:47:12.000 patients who need a therapy can get there and can afford it in a 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:15.960 really streamlined way, when everything is so multifactorial 00:47:15.960 --> 00:47:18.960 right now, I think that's the level of integration and 00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:21.620 intelligence that the industry is looking for, 00:47:23.540 --> 00:47:27.860 Nico Saraceno: definitely, and you led us into what I wanted to 00:47:27.860 --> 00:47:30.920 ask Miranda about, actually. So thank you for that Ashwin from 00:47:30.980 --> 00:47:35.420 thinking about the tech. Ash and mentions this, I this concept of 00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:39.800 omni channel. So what do you think is needed to support these 00:47:40.100 --> 00:47:46.668 omni channel models in order to scale at the level that the 00:47:46.668 --> 00:47:51.228 demand for GLP-1s is really requiring what what is necessary 00:47:51.348 --> 00:47:53.088 for that to be to be possible? 00:47:53.868 --> 00:47:57.228 Miranda Delatore: I think the scale depends on having that 00:47:57.228 --> 00:48:02.100 access infrastructure that is really connected and consistent 00:48:02.100 --> 00:48:07.140 across channels, you can't deliver a seamless experience in 00:48:07.140 --> 00:48:12.060 specialty and a fragmented one in retail or direct to patient, 00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:15.060 because, as Ashwin mentioned, like they are no longer 00:48:15.120 --> 00:48:18.840 completely separate, and the patients will Feel that 00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:22.940 disconnect immediately if we don't think comprehensively 00:48:22.940 --> 00:48:26.600 about these solutions, the GLP-1 landscape is really 00:48:26.600 --> 00:48:32.540 highlighting the need for a unified access backbone, is how 00:48:32.540 --> 00:48:35.540 I like to think about it. So it's the real time eligibility 00:48:35.540 --> 00:48:37.700 that we talked about, its benefits, its prior 00:48:37.700 --> 00:48:43.660 authorization and affordability logic that works no matter where 00:48:43.660 --> 00:48:49.480 the patient is or how they enter the system. And I think, quite 00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:53.020 honestly, that's where our focus is right now, at comeri meds, 00:48:53.020 --> 00:48:56.920 making sure that access workflows and data are 00:48:56.920 --> 00:49:03.000 integrated and scalable and not fragmented by channel or where 00:49:03.060 --> 00:49:05.280 the medication is dispensed or billed, 00:49:07.980 --> 00:49:10.920 Nico Saraceno: absolutely. I know you started to chime in 00:49:11.160 --> 00:49:16.980 earlier Fauzea from a regulatory perspective. So when it comes to 00:49:16.980 --> 00:49:23.660 policy here, regarding GLP-1s, how have you noticed them 00:49:23.660 --> 00:49:28.700 changing that conversation when it comes to expectations of 00:49:28.700 --> 00:49:33.020 coverage, utilization, management, affordability, 00:49:34.160 --> 00:49:37.880 especially given the fact that you know the patient population, 00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:40.780 you have to consider the size and you Know diversity of the 00:49:40.780 --> 00:49:43.420 population, you know, various different factors behind the 00:49:43.420 --> 00:49:47.620 scenes. Could you maybe get into how they're kind of changing 00:49:47.740 --> 00:49:50.620 that conversation, and how that's how that's unfolding? 00:49:51.040 --> 00:49:53.500 Fauzea Hussain: Yeah, I mean, I mean happy to I mean, I'm with 00:49:53.560 --> 00:49:56.320 with Ashwin. I think we're at the early stages of where we're 00:49:56.320 --> 00:50:00.660 going to see GLP-1s transform more than just the clinical. Digital 00:50:00.660 --> 00:50:04.680 environment, but our benefit and design structure, I mean, GLP-1s 00:50:04.680 --> 00:50:07.320 are instructed from a policy perspective, because they sit at 00:50:07.320 --> 00:50:10.140 that intersection of like, you know, strong clinical demand, 00:50:10.200 --> 00:50:14.400 strong patient demand, but real budget constraints, right? 00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:18.540 They're forcing the system to confront scale and exposing the 00:50:18.540 --> 00:50:21.800 limitations of our current benefit structures for all the 00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:24.140 reasons that everybody has talked about, in terms of the 00:50:24.140 --> 00:50:28.220 number of indications, the populations, and as a result, 00:50:28.220 --> 00:50:31.460 payers are managing them in different ways. But as access 00:50:31.460 --> 00:50:34.520 points get more diverse, we have to take a step back to take a 00:50:34.520 --> 00:50:36.860 look and say, Hey, does our current benefit structure and 00:50:36.860 --> 00:50:40.720 design work? How do we incorporate sort of alternative 00:50:40.780 --> 00:50:45.580 access points or value points into traditional benefit design. 00:50:45.820 --> 00:50:50.260 I mean, I think GLP-1s are like a stress test for payers, for 00:50:50.320 --> 00:50:53.140 providers and patients who are facing that friction, and also 00:50:53.140 --> 00:50:56.320 for biopharma, it's much more about figuring out, like, how do 00:50:56.320 --> 00:50:58.840 you take the learnings from what we're seeing with the GLP-1s? 00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:02.040 Right for scale and budget, because cost is a constraint 00:51:02.160 --> 00:51:05.760 when you think about, you know, balancing access to premiums and 00:51:05.760 --> 00:51:08.460 out of pocket costs, but, you know, it's the stress test for 00:51:08.460 --> 00:51:10.740 other therapies to come. So I think it's we're just at the 00:51:10.740 --> 00:51:14.040 beginning and scratching the surface as to how this one set 00:51:14.040 --> 00:51:16.860 of therapies is going to potentially transform not only 00:51:16.860 --> 00:51:19.980 clinical and care delivery, but also benefit and insurance 00:51:19.980 --> 00:51:20.540 design. 00:51:22.940 --> 00:51:24.980 Nico Saraceno: For sure, and I know we could this is one of 00:51:24.980 --> 00:51:27.800 several topics, as you all have mentioned earlier, that we could 00:51:27.800 --> 00:51:32.060 talk about for hours on end, so I know we're doing our best to 00:51:32.360 --> 00:51:36.200 consolidate our chat today. So I guess before we close off, I'll 00:51:36.200 --> 00:51:40.360 kind of open this up to all of you on the floor here as we look 00:51:40.360 --> 00:51:45.280 ahead to the rest of the year and even beyond that, into the 00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:51.040 future. What sort of innovations or capabilities do you feel will 00:51:51.040 --> 00:51:57.940 have the biggest impacts on this specialty ecosystem, and what 00:51:57.940 --> 00:52:02.340 what kind of things do you think biopharma leaders need to be 00:52:02.340 --> 00:52:07.260 paying attention to that might not be on their radar as we, as 00:52:07.260 --> 00:52:10.980 we look ahead, or have Asembia up coming up here. What's kind 00:52:10.980 --> 00:52:14.340 of top of minds for everybody at this point? Well, we'll start 00:52:14.340 --> 00:52:15.660 with you. Megan, if you'd like, 00:52:17.580 --> 00:52:21.020 Megan Wetzel: Yeah, happy to I'm most energized, I think by the 00:52:21.020 --> 00:52:25.400 ability to think about patient specific support and the access 00:52:25.400 --> 00:52:29.060 and affordability space. I think as we start to get more of these 00:52:29.300 --> 00:52:32.480 data sets and more information connected across the ecosystem, 00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:35.120 thinking about delivering that support that that specific 00:52:35.120 --> 00:52:37.640 patient might need at that specific time and more upstream 00:52:37.640 --> 00:52:40.340 before they experience a burden, is what excites me the most. And 00:52:40.340 --> 00:52:42.700 I think we are well on our way to seeing that in various 00:52:42.700 --> 00:52:45.400 different ways, seeing a lot of collaboration across the 00:52:45.400 --> 00:52:49.240 industry with different tools and solutions that are coming to 00:52:49.300 --> 00:52:52.060 market that I'm excited about. But I think it's it's all been 00:52:52.060 --> 00:52:55.000 centered around, how do we get more targeted patient support, 00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:57.460 and how do we support that specific patient with what they 00:52:57.460 --> 00:52:59.620 may be going through? And I think that's what I'm 00:52:59.620 --> 00:53:02.520 particularly most excited about, and I'm hoping that our 00:53:02.520 --> 00:53:05.340 biopharma manufacturer partners and others in the industry are 00:53:05.340 --> 00:53:07.980 also thinking about how to support their patients in that 00:53:07.980 --> 00:53:09.000 in that targeted way. 00:53:10.740 --> 00:53:12.120 Nico Saraceno: And you mentioned, you mentioned the 00:53:12.120 --> 00:53:17.640 patients. So how Miranda, from your perspective, how are you 00:53:17.700 --> 00:53:18.660 what are you seeing? 00:53:19.800 --> 00:53:22.100 Miranda Delatore: Yeah, I think when I look ahead, what excites 00:53:22.100 --> 00:53:25.640 me the most, really, it's building on what Megan shared. 00:53:25.640 --> 00:53:29.900 It's how access is becoming more connected and proactive. We're 00:53:29.900 --> 00:53:32.480 starting to align the administrative workflows with 00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:36.680 the pace of clinical care so access doesn't slow treatment 00:53:36.680 --> 00:53:40.280 down. And that's really exciting. One thing I think, for 00:53:40.340 --> 00:53:47.560 our biopharma leaders to really tune into is stay present on how 00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:52.420 critical interoperability has become. I think we talked in a 00:53:52.420 --> 00:53:55.240 number of our different conversations today about the 00:53:55.240 --> 00:53:59.200 interdependency between stakeholders in the ecosystem. I 00:53:59.200 --> 00:54:04.740 see that need only growing in the future. We talked about 00:54:04.740 --> 00:54:09.180 specialty care and how it spans EHRs and different labs and 00:54:09.180 --> 00:54:13.020 payers and pharmacies and manufacturer partners, and when 00:54:13.020 --> 00:54:17.100 those systems don't connect, we end up putting our clinicians in 00:54:17.100 --> 00:54:20.660 the middle to do that coordination themselves, and 00:54:20.660 --> 00:54:24.440 that simply doesn't scale and won't meet the demand of the 00:54:24.440 --> 00:54:29.540 ecosystem. Moving forward, we know that AI is absolutely going 00:54:29.540 --> 00:54:33.260 to help, especially by reducing the manual work and improving 00:54:33.260 --> 00:54:37.460 predictability, but the technology that truly scales, I 00:54:37.460 --> 00:54:40.960 believe, is going to be the technology that clinicians 00:54:41.020 --> 00:54:44.980 trust. So again, thinking about it, assistive, transparent and 00:54:44.980 --> 00:54:49.540 embedded into their existing workflows and tools, with that 00:54:49.540 --> 00:54:54.760 care team remaining in control, and as I get ready to pack my 00:54:54.760 --> 00:54:59.140 bags and head out to Asembia, I'm excited to hear about the 00:54:59.140 --> 00:55:04.140 real progress. That's being made towards this integrated access 00:55:04.200 --> 00:55:08.640 model, and I think, I think is going to be a great opportunity 00:55:08.640 --> 00:55:12.480 for us to see where folks are reducing that friction for 00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:17.880 patients, and how they are protecting clinicians times by 00:55:17.880 --> 00:55:21.860 intelligently leveraging all of this incredible technology, 00:55:23.540 --> 00:55:25.580 Nico Saraceno: yes, indeed, leveraging technology is 00:55:25.580 --> 00:55:29.240 essential. So when it comes to maybe Ashwin, you could discuss 00:55:29.240 --> 00:55:32.840 this too. From your perspective, what do you what are you going 00:55:32.840 --> 00:55:38.360 to be looking out for when it comes to this convergence of 00:55:38.600 --> 00:55:43.660 data intelligence and access infrastructure and things of 00:55:43.660 --> 00:55:44.320 that nature, 00:55:45.340 --> 00:55:47.860 Ashwin Singhania: yeah, and that's, it's similar themes to 00:55:47.860 --> 00:55:50.320 what Megan and Miranda had mentioned here. It's kind of 00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:53.680 that convergence of data and infrastructure. Think the next 00:55:53.680 --> 00:55:56.620 wave of innovation is closing that loop and using the real 00:55:56.620 --> 00:56:00.720 world data to inform Access Program, first of all in the 00:56:00.720 --> 00:56:04.680 design, second of all in where patients are falling off and 00:56:04.680 --> 00:56:07.860 then making the adjustments to improve retention and outcomes 00:56:08.760 --> 00:56:12.960 as we head into Asembia. I'm really interested to see who is 00:56:13.080 --> 00:56:17.340 able to help integrate the ecosystem so that we don't have 00:56:17.340 --> 00:56:19.140 those gaps going forward, 00:56:21.540 --> 00:56:26.520 Nico Saraceno: most definitely, and of course, Fauzea from the 00:56:26.520 --> 00:56:29.760 regulatory policy side of things, anything you'd like to 00:56:29.760 --> 00:56:29.880 add. 00:56:30.900 --> 00:56:33.840 Fauzea Hussain: Listen, we are in dynamic times, right? And I 00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:38.580 think that organizations that are leaning in to take advantage 00:56:38.580 --> 00:56:41.980 of all of the different things that the panelists have shared 00:56:41.980 --> 00:56:44.200 today are going to be the entities that are set up for 00:56:44.200 --> 00:56:47.800 success. It's about agility, it's about flexibility, but I 00:56:47.800 --> 00:56:50.680 think it's also about really leaning in to take advantage of 00:56:50.680 --> 00:56:54.580 these new opportunities. So I'm really excited to hear more 00:56:54.580 --> 00:56:58.000 about that, and we should just expect more, you know, policy 00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:02.580 changes, and you know, more regulations and deregulations as 00:57:02.580 --> 00:57:05.100 the year goes on. But I think again, there's a lot of 00:57:05.100 --> 00:57:06.240 opportunity in this 00:57:08.820 --> 00:57:11.880 Nico Saraceno: certainly. And I think Fauzea, that's a good, a 00:57:11.880 --> 00:57:16.980 great way to close out actually these this positive, optimistic 00:57:16.980 --> 00:57:19.740 perspective of great opportunity out there on the horizon. So I 00:57:19.740 --> 00:57:24.140 want to thank all four of you. Miranda, Megan, Ashwin, Fauzea, 00:57:24.380 --> 00:57:27.680 it's been such a great conversation. We we covered so 00:57:27.680 --> 00:57:33.320 much from the urgency of the policy, practical reality of AI 00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:38.420 and access and affordability, this complexity surrounding the 00:57:39.320 --> 00:57:43.180 specialty pipeline, especially in oncology, and, of course, the 00:57:43.180 --> 00:57:49.240 GLP-1 Access Challenge. So a lot stood out to me, personally, 00:57:49.240 --> 00:57:52.660 there's, I think there's a, certainly a consistent theme. 00:57:53.080 --> 00:57:57.520 It's organizations. They're going to continue to lead in 00:57:57.520 --> 00:58:02.640 both access and affordability, and they're treating integration 00:58:03.120 --> 00:58:08.820 not as a feature, but as a foundation. So with that, ladies 00:58:08.820 --> 00:58:12.780 and gentlemen, thank you all for watching. We look forward to and 00:58:12.780 --> 00:58:18.120 we hope to see you at Asembia AXS 26 Take care.