NYSE Money Sense

A new online experience at NYSE Money Sense offers information and guidance about responsible finance. Brought to you by NYSE Euronext’s Financial Literacy Advisory Committee, NYSE Money Sense content is free for consumers, and listed companies are encouraged to distribute it to their employees.

Walgreens Sidebar: Infused With Possibility

Print E-mail |

Most prescription drugs are taken orally or through A transdermal patch. But many drugs that treat chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and some cancers must be injected or infused. That specialty is the industry’s fastest-growing segment, making up 20 percent to 25 percent of the pharmacy market, says Stanley Blaylock, president of Walgreens Health Services. And the trend is growing: 80 percent of products awaiting FDA approval in 2008 were specialty drugs, according to research firm IMS Health Inc. (RX).

Walgreens is aggressively seizing the opportunity, building market share through the acquisition of MedMark in 2003, OptionCare in 2007 and McKesson Corp. (MCK) in 2008. Blaylock says the McKesson deal expanded Walgreens’ national reach and access to managed-care payers, turning it into the largest specialty pharmacy independent of the major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The company can now deliver patient care and services through its fulfillment centers and the 7,000 electronically linked pharmacies. The pharmacies can then fill prescriptions for infused or injected drugs, coordinate insurance benefits or even provide individualized therapy management and clinical support. “[We deliver] services around delivering the drug, wherever that may take place — at a person’s home, a physician’s office, an ambulatory treatment center or a clinic,” Blaylock says. “If a drug can be self-administered, Walgreens can train patients on how to do it ... We have nearly 1,000 nurses, usually RNs with specialty IV training, on staff to provide that care.

“This is what I call a hard business. Still, what’s attractive to us is that this segment is growing fast and is very complementary to our core retail pharmacies.”

It’s easy for the managed-care industry to see the benefits of Walgreens’ program. “Our patient compliance rate is in the low to mid 90s,” Blaylock says, “which is extraordinarily high. That’s good for patients, and it’s good for the health-care system overall.”