Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / YARAL Pharma’s Bold Approach to the U.S. Generics Market | Yaral Pharma

Transcript

YARAL Pharma’s Bold Approach to the U.S. Generics Market | Yaral Pharma · Pharmacy Podcast Network

0:05
Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
0:09
Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
0:30
Speaker 1: You're All Pharma, an innovative player in the US generics marketplace,
0:35
Speaker 1: has partnered with the Pharmacy Podcast Network to educate and
0:38
Speaker 1: build a network of pharmacists. Learn more at your rolpharma
0:42
Speaker 1: dot com.
0:45
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to your ralph Pharma on the Pharmacy
0:49
Speaker 2: Podcast Network. Season I don't know if this is season three.
0:53
Speaker 2: Is this season three? I think it is season three,
0:55
Speaker 2: season three, Steve, And it's good to be back in
0:59
Speaker 2: the studio with you.
1:00
Speaker 3: It's always a pleasure to be back with you, Todd.
1:02
Speaker 3: We always love to have the opportunity to talk about
1:05
Speaker 3: what's happening in the industry and also talk a little
1:08
Speaker 3: bit about what you Rowl's all about.
1:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, we Raul made a statement over the summer that
1:15
Speaker 2: you're going to start doing things differently, and it starts
1:18
Speaker 2: from within. It actually starts, I think with leadership. So
1:22
Speaker 2: that's a whole other subject and podcast we can get into.
1:25
Speaker 2: You know, Jesse mccallaugh, who collaborated with us at the
1:28
Speaker 2: Veterans Pharmacy Care Summit that you're Rau had sponsored last year.
1:33
Speaker 2: We're going to be doing that again in September. But
1:35
Speaker 2: he has an entire directive on leadership that we should
1:39
Speaker 2: invite him to talk about what it means to be
1:41
Speaker 2: a leader.
1:42
Speaker 3: I think the thing about leadership is that people think
1:44
Speaker 3: it's always the person that has the title at the
1:46
Speaker 3: top of the org chart. But you know, at the
1:49
Speaker 3: end of the day, leadership permeates through our entire organization
1:52
Speaker 3: if it's done well. So it doesn't matter if you're
1:55
Speaker 3: managing a whole group of people or you're an individual contributor.
1:58
Speaker 3: As long as you have the orientation and attitude to
2:03
Speaker 3: be a leader, you can be one. And quite frankly,
2:05
Speaker 3: that's what we want everybody to be in our organization.
2:09
Speaker 2: So let's talk about what it means to do things differently.
2:14
Speaker 2: I've noticed it with regards to your content development, your
2:18
Speaker 2: involvement at the National Trade shows, the way that you're
2:21
Speaker 2: reaching out to pharmacists who are specialists in specific things
2:25
Speaker 2: to discuss. So what makes you different? What do you
2:29
Speaker 2: think it does well?
2:29
Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of ironic if you think about
2:31
Speaker 3: the word generic, it seems that everything's the same, right,
2:34
Speaker 3: But I think the way we've approached building your row.
2:38
Speaker 3: Let's flip that on its head. I mean, the markets
2:41
Speaker 3: are changing. The dynamic between generic industry and brand is changing.
2:47
Speaker 3: How we engage customers is changing. So if we're going
2:50
Speaker 3: to sit here and do things the same, then ultimately
2:55
Speaker 3: it's not getting the same results. It's getting poorer results
2:59
Speaker 3: because as the evolution comes, if you're doing the same
3:02
Speaker 3: thing that you did ten years ago or even five
3:04
Speaker 3: years ago, you're probably not going to be performing as well.
3:08
Speaker 3: And the evidence is is that in our industry, we
3:10
Speaker 3: don't for example, we don't describe companies by small, medium,
3:15
Speaker 3: and large anymore. What we do is there commodity companies.
3:18
Speaker 3: They're specialty or complex drugs, they're biosimilars, or maybe they're
3:23
Speaker 3: a hybrid. Like a lot of the larger generic companies
3:26
Speaker 3: now that are out there, such as Viatris or Teva,
3:30
Speaker 3: in many cases they don't even try to position themselves
3:32
Speaker 3: as generic companies anymore, because what they're really positioning is
3:35
Speaker 3: more high value complex generics along with brand, and they're
3:39
Speaker 3: actually creating a hybrid. So, you know, I think what
3:43
Speaker 3: that simply says is that times are changing, and they
3:46
Speaker 3: always do so if we don't adapt to them, and
3:48
Speaker 3: we don't think uniquely to the way we've done it,
3:52
Speaker 3: then we are going to fail. And when I mean fail.
3:56
Speaker 3: Ultimately our job is still to deliver high quality, accessible
4:01
Speaker 3: medicine to patients, but that maybe not enough anymore. Now
4:05
Speaker 3: we have to actually do more than that and start
4:08
Speaker 3: thinking in some cases like a brand company, or thinking
4:11
Speaker 3: outside how we deliver generics. And that's really what I think.
4:16
Speaker 3: It's the spirit of your round. We use the motto
4:19
Speaker 3: or the tagline. I'm sure we'll bring it up here
4:21
Speaker 3: at some point. I've always said it's about the right marbles,
4:24
Speaker 3: It's not about the most marbles. And so when we
4:27
Speaker 3: think about what we're doing to help patients, is that
4:32
Speaker 3: we're really looking at products that truly deliver on what
4:36
Speaker 3: we all do and why we get into this industry,
4:39
Speaker 3: which is to help patients. So it could be something
4:42
Speaker 3: in terms of a supply dynamic issue, it could be
4:44
Speaker 3: a subpopulation of patients, it could be a specific new opportunity,
4:50
Speaker 3: or even bringing back products that are no longer happen,
4:53
Speaker 3: no longer available, but have a place to play. So
4:56
Speaker 3: the idea is to ultimately help help patients at the
5:00
Speaker 3: medicines that they need at the time they need them.
5:02
Speaker 3: But we know that it's not just about us manufacturing
5:05
Speaker 3: and patients get them. There's a huge value chain or
5:08
Speaker 3: supply chain that impacts both negatively and positively how we
5:13
Speaker 3: deliver that promise to patients because we manufacture, but then
5:17
Speaker 3: we have to distribute them through wholesalers and distributors, We
5:20
Speaker 3: have to deal with PBMs and payers, we have to
5:23
Speaker 3: deal with pharmacy, and then ultimately get down the patient
5:27
Speaker 3: or health care providers in general. So it's a long
5:32
Speaker 3: winding path and we need to continue to do things
5:35
Speaker 3: to make it better. And why not. We're at the
5:37
Speaker 3: kind of the tip of the or the start of
5:39
Speaker 3: that pathway, so we should be thinking that way.
5:42
Speaker 2: So my dad, during my six year old to probably
5:48
Speaker 2: nine year old period of my life, I remember that
5:53
Speaker 2: my dad would lock heads with me about truth and
5:57
Speaker 2: about being honest because I was a little bit of
5:59
Speaker 2: a ever then and I would tell I would tell
6:02
Speaker 2: things to get attention, you know, And he taught me.
6:08
Speaker 2: He taught me what it meant to be a person
6:10
Speaker 2: of your word and being open and transparent when it's
6:15
Speaker 2: when it's appropriate. This is what podcasting does to people
6:21
Speaker 2: that have something to share. If you are if you
6:23
Speaker 2: do a podcast and you are over using AI, or
6:27
Speaker 2: if you're you know, just putting a script through, or
6:31
Speaker 2: if you're just reading something verbatim, this doesn't allow the
6:35
Speaker 2: listener to really dial in to the to the point
6:38
Speaker 2: of who are you really?
6:39
Speaker 1: Who?
6:39
Speaker 2: Who are you? Who's Steve Beckman? You know, who is
6:42
Speaker 2: this guy that he's the CEO of your ralph Pharma.
6:45
Speaker 2: This is demystifying the world of pharmaceuticals and that even
6:51
Speaker 2: pharmacists don't really understand how it works. And by you
6:56
Speaker 2: teaming up with Mark Garrofoli and Tamar Rugals and all
7:00
Speaker 2: these specialists, you get to take advantage of their insights
7:04
Speaker 2: and their direction and more importantly, the application of what
7:09
Speaker 2: youral technologies are really there to dial into. And it's
7:13
Speaker 2: so much more honest. And I think that there's a
7:16
Speaker 2: there's a strategy to this that you taught me about
7:18
Speaker 2: when we were talking about my company and you were
7:20
Speaker 2: trying to give me some ideas and you were coming
7:23
Speaker 2: back to being able to trust people that you work with.
7:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, trust and honesty is something that you know,
7:30
Speaker 3: we've lost sight of in many aspects of our lives
7:33
Speaker 3: personally or professionally. And I think at the end of
7:35
Speaker 3: the day, it's a lot easier to manage what you're
7:38
Speaker 3: doing in a business environment or in a personal environment
7:41
Speaker 3: if you do that right. And transparency is a big
7:44
Speaker 3: part of what we've always tried to do. You know, historically,
7:47
Speaker 3: I've worked on both the brand side and the industry
7:49
Speaker 3: and the generic side through my thirty plus years in
7:52
Speaker 3: the industry. And you know, when I was on the
7:54
Speaker 3: brand side, especially many years ago, we would go out
7:57
Speaker 3: and do a lot of market research. We've spent tens
8:00
Speaker 3: of thousands of dollars on quantitative or qualitative market research
8:04
Speaker 3: to create our marketing materials and our messaging and so forth.
8:09
Speaker 3: And you know, we would do these in traditional research
8:12
Speaker 3: kind of forms, but that's taking you a sample of
8:15
Speaker 3: twenty people, and then we start creating the content that
8:20
Speaker 3: we think is right for everybody on how we promote
8:23
Speaker 3: our products or how we promote other support programs. And
8:26
Speaker 3: what I think we lost, or at least when reflecting
8:29
Speaker 3: back on those years, is that we didn't listen enough.
8:33
Speaker 3: I think that's the problem. You know, I think as
8:35
Speaker 3: an industry we've had a tendency over the last twenty
8:39
Speaker 3: thirty years to kind of go out and get information,
8:41
Speaker 3: interpret it ourselves, and then we put it back out there.
8:44
Speaker 3: But that really probably misses a lot of the translation
8:48
Speaker 3: in terms of actually listening to our customers. And that's why,
8:52
Speaker 3: you know, Iral and teaming up with you has been
8:55
Speaker 3: such an important adventure for us because we felt very
9:00
Speaker 3: clearly that pharmacy channel was a channel that was underserved
9:04
Speaker 3: one and has historically been. And two, they are so
9:09
Speaker 3: important to the delivery of healthcare and the delivery of medicine,
9:12
Speaker 3: so we should be thoughtful of what they're doing and
9:16
Speaker 3: understand what their problems are, what their needs are, what
9:19
Speaker 3: the opportunities are, and really listen. And I think that's
9:24
Speaker 3: what is kind of one of the pillars of doing
9:27
Speaker 3: things differently, is that we're really trying to listen more.
9:31
Speaker 3: And you know, Todd, I never probably even listened to
9:34
Speaker 3: a podcast until about three years ago when I first
9:37
Speaker 3: met you. And I don't know if I just was
9:40
Speaker 3: afraid of them or I didn't know what they really
9:42
Speaker 3: were how valuable. But what I can tell you over
9:44
Speaker 3: the last three years is having this platform, whether it
9:49
Speaker 3: be the podcast we're doing on behalf of Youu're out
9:52
Speaker 3: or the creation that we put together in terms of
9:54
Speaker 3: executive dose to really start talking and sharing and pulling
10:00
Speaker 3: back the curtain a little bit in a positive way,
10:03
Speaker 3: not negative way exactly.
10:04
Speaker 2: It's not like we're going to we're going to try
10:06
Speaker 2: to nail anybody.
10:07
Speaker 3: Oh, I mean, look at I mean, there's always.
10:09
Speaker 2: We're all we're all humans, Like, there's so many people
10:12
Speaker 2: that make mistakes. There's so many things that happen out
10:14
Speaker 2: there that that are being interpreted a certain way. And
10:18
Speaker 2: podcasting brings an element of if you're honest with your audience,
10:22
Speaker 2: if you're not honest, I mean, there's people out there
10:24
Speaker 2: that can you know, obviously fake stuff and anything can
10:27
Speaker 2: be abused. But this is an opportunity to come into
10:30
Speaker 2: an age of pharmacy that things are not the same.
10:33
Speaker 2: We're not in Kansas anymore, you know, Toto. We're a
10:37
Speaker 2: whole new landscape of pharmacy care in that ecosystem, and
10:41
Speaker 2: you'rau has really real pharma, has really invested in relationships
10:46
Speaker 2: to help transform that into if it's an expert, if
10:50
Speaker 2: it's a distribution partner like like Key Source or Real
10:56
Speaker 2: Value Drug or at least Partnership IPC, independent, Pharma Cooperative.
11:00
Speaker 2: All these relationships that you've built, Stephen are positioned to
11:04
Speaker 2: do very specific things to help us get access to
11:08
Speaker 2: help patients get access to the medications that they need
11:11
Speaker 2: in under the direction of the physician, but then the
11:13
Speaker 2: pharmacy specialist driving that therapy.
11:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we have products for pay management. You know,
11:19
Speaker 3: it's not our job as a company per se to
11:25
Speaker 3: decide which patients get pain management, what type of pain management,
11:29
Speaker 3: how it should be administered. That's why there are professional physicians, nurses,
11:34
Speaker 3: pharmacists that are doing that job. And I think what
11:37
Speaker 3: happens is that maybe this is a sense of control.
11:41
Speaker 3: Like you know, we do obviously live in a very
11:43
Speaker 3: regulated industry, so we have to follow certain guidelines, which
11:45
Speaker 3: we obviously do. Then it has to go down to
11:47
Speaker 3: the experts, right, Let the experts help us learn and
11:53
Speaker 3: engage in a different way, not just talking too, but
11:56
Speaker 3: talking with And that's the amazing thing about the podcast
11:59
Speaker 3: is that I feel like, for the first time in
12:01
Speaker 3: my entire career, we get a chance to talk with
12:05
Speaker 3: the different people that are important. And we've done it,
12:08
Speaker 3: you know, throughout the years in different programs. But it
12:12
Speaker 3: always feels to me that we're providing an educational program
12:16
Speaker 3: and we create, we give it, so we're talking to
12:19
Speaker 3: you take it instead of saying what is the best way?
12:23
Speaker 3: And Mark Arifoli is a great one, you know when
12:25
Speaker 3: when you talk about pain management, and his first thing
12:28
Speaker 3: in his mantra is very consistent is that options are
12:31
Speaker 3: critical because every pain is different, every patient is different,
12:34
Speaker 3: every situation is different. So those are the people that
12:38
Speaker 3: need to be listened to and learn how where products
12:40
Speaker 3: are used appropriately and so forth. But if we don't listen,
12:43
Speaker 3: then we just create stuff versus having them help us
12:46
Speaker 3: navigate those different pathways. And hopefully then what you do
12:50
Speaker 3: is you learn a little bit more and then that
12:52
Speaker 3: can reflect back on all the work that we're doing.
12:55
Speaker 3: But ultimately, at the end of the day, doing different
12:59
Speaker 3: doing things differently means is that we are open to
13:03
Speaker 3: understanding that we're not perfect. We're open to the idea
13:08
Speaker 3: that there's still things that we need and should and
13:11
Speaker 3: want to do better, both internally as an organization as
13:15
Speaker 3: well as trying to navigate all the craziness that we
13:17
Speaker 3: have in our external dynamic to deliver healthcare to patients.
13:21
Speaker 3: So doing things differently. Really, when it comes down to it,
13:26
Speaker 3: it's for us. It's about listening, it's about willing to
13:31
Speaker 3: accept that there is better. And you know, when I
13:35
Speaker 3: got in this industry out of college, I had seven
13:38
Speaker 3: different job offers to either work at the Chicago Tribune
13:42
Speaker 3: because I put myself through school, working at Syracuse Newspapers,
13:45
Speaker 3: or working for Coca Cola, or a couple others. But
13:47
Speaker 3: I had a couple offers to work in this industry.
13:50
Speaker 3: And although I didn't have a science background, a good
13:52
Speaker 3: friend of mine said, either you'll get the science or
13:54
Speaker 3: you won't. But the premise for me was I really
13:57
Speaker 3: wanted to do something was meaningful. Sell Coca cola syrup arcts,
14:01
Speaker 3: maybe a drug that makes a patient have a higher
14:04
Speaker 3: quality life. And I've been in it for thirty plus
14:06
Speaker 3: years and I don't regret a minute of doing it.
14:09
Speaker 3: But at the same time, you have to have humility
14:15
Speaker 3: in what we're doing, and I think that's what we're
14:16
Speaker 3: trying to do. I mean, we have a really good
14:18
Speaker 3: group of colleagues that work at EU RAL. We challenge
14:22
Speaker 3: ourselves every day to think about you know, this is
14:25
Speaker 3: how we promoted the product last years. That's still the
14:28
Speaker 3: best way based on what we've been hearing from our
14:31
Speaker 3: constituency throughout the supply chain, and that's what we want
14:35
Speaker 3: to do in the spirit of doing things different.
14:38
Speaker 2: You're when we've talked about this in the kind of
14:42
Speaker 2: the direction, the leadership and the pathway. What's that next.
14:46
Speaker 2: I can't say five years, It's just too much is happening,
14:49
Speaker 2: especially like with AI changing production and in research. But
14:53
Speaker 2: what does the next like let's say three years look
14:56
Speaker 2: like for you guys.
14:57
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think we're excited that we've become
15:00
Speaker 3: an important part of IPSCH as one of their eighteen
15:04
Speaker 3: subsidiaries in terms of our ability to contribute to the organization.
15:08
Speaker 3: And when we say contribute, that means we are generating revenue.
15:12
Speaker 3: We are generating a profit that the company can continue
15:15
Speaker 3: to reinvest, and the company has historically been an amazing
15:20
Speaker 3: organization through the ownership to reinvest in development and manufacturing.
15:27
Speaker 3: In fact, I've been doing this for about thirty years,
15:29
Speaker 3: and our supply chain team and organization at ICH is
15:34
Speaker 3: really second to none. We've never really had any issues
15:38
Speaker 3: because quality is first. So I think when we look
15:41
Speaker 3: at the next couple of years, it really continues to
15:45
Speaker 3: focus on that mantra of the right marbles, not the
15:48
Speaker 3: most marbles. So both in terms of our internal focus
15:51
Speaker 3: on our portfolio development as well as external, we're really
15:54
Speaker 3: looking for those products that meet a unique need, need
16:00
Speaker 3: that doesn't have to be universal. It might not always
16:02
Speaker 3: be specific to a patient population, but maybe it is.
16:05
Speaker 3: Maybe it is because market conditions have created a demand
16:09
Speaker 3: for a product that's not available. We continue, as a
16:13
Speaker 3: pedigree of the company to always look on how we
16:15
Speaker 3: can make products better, and that means they're easier to
16:19
Speaker 3: take a complex products that are hard to manufacture, we
16:23
Speaker 3: find the way to manufacture them in GMP and high quality.
16:27
Speaker 3: So I think what you're going to see from us
16:28
Speaker 3: over the next couple of years is that we're going
16:31
Speaker 3: to double down on two things. We're going to double
16:34
Speaker 3: down on our commitment to the right marbles, not the
16:38
Speaker 3: most marbles. So we'll never be supplier that's going to
16:41
Speaker 3: be a commodity player giving you two hundred different products
16:45
Speaker 3: and just on price. We're going to be looking for
16:47
Speaker 3: products that really meet a need in the marketplace, and
16:50
Speaker 3: we can build our portfolio slowly but consistently, and then
16:54
Speaker 3: we're going to deliver that portfolio products by doing things differently,
16:59
Speaker 3: and doing things differently meaning is that we will look
17:02
Speaker 3: at all aspects of what we do. I think one
17:04
Speaker 3: of the unique things about generic companies is that we
17:07
Speaker 3: kind of you know, coming in the marketplace. The generic
17:10
Speaker 3: industry has been around for you know, almost thirty you know,
17:13
Speaker 3: thirty years. You know, it's always been predicated basically on price,
17:18
Speaker 3: and now we're asking ourselves as their way, can we
17:20
Speaker 3: do that differently, because predicating our industry just on price
17:24
Speaker 3: is not per se a good thing for anybody, because
17:27
Speaker 3: when it's just price, then we come into the situation
17:29
Speaker 3: we face now in the industry where we have one
17:31
Speaker 3: of the largest drug shortages because you know, there's been
17:35
Speaker 3: hundreds of generic companies that have come in and now
17:37
Speaker 3: we've gotten so cheap in our products that you can't
17:41
Speaker 3: justify manufacturing them anymore. So we have to make our
17:44
Speaker 3: companies profitable, right, that's one thing, but we have to
17:48
Speaker 3: do it in a fair way so that that value
17:51
Speaker 3: can still make it through that whole pathway down to
17:56
Speaker 3: the patient, so it's available to the patient and the
17:59
Speaker 3: sess of price and they can get their medication, so
18:03
Speaker 3: they can be compliant and we can do what we're
18:05
Speaker 3: here to do, which is improve the outcome the patients.
18:08
Speaker 3: So that's what we're going to work on. We're going
18:10
Speaker 3: to work on continuing to build a portfolio that's steady
18:14
Speaker 3: and true, and we're going to continue to examine and
18:17
Speaker 3: looking through listening first to figure out ways through that
18:21
Speaker 3: pathway down to the patient that we can do it better.
18:24
Speaker 3: And it starts for us really kind of it's almost
18:27
Speaker 3: like a two ends on the front end, how do
18:29
Speaker 3: we manufacturing and supplying products at a fair price and
18:33
Speaker 3: getting it into the system, right, that's because what that's
18:35
Speaker 3: what generic or that's what manufacturers do. I think the
18:38
Speaker 3: second thing we're gonna do is going to work from
18:39
Speaker 3: the bottom back up, which is patient oriented, which the
18:42
Speaker 3: next step up and that really is pharmacy, and that's
18:44
Speaker 3: what we've been doing. And then hopefully through the knowledge
18:47
Speaker 3: that we're gaining, maybe we'll help squeeze down and we'll
18:49
Speaker 3: find the ways to improve throughout the system. But there's
18:52
Speaker 3: you know, that's not something that an individual company can
18:55
Speaker 3: fix alone because there's a lot of challenges and opportunities.
18:58
Speaker 3: But the one thing we want customers to know what
19:02
Speaker 3: we want patients to know. What we want our partners
19:06
Speaker 3: to know is that we are trying to do it differently.
19:10
Speaker 3: We are trying to be there. We are trying to
19:13
Speaker 3: be thoughtful and the only way you can really do
19:16
Speaker 3: that is to listen right now. Our key areas are
19:20
Speaker 3: are are in pain, and pain and inflammation and hypothiriism.
19:25
Speaker 3: Look at well something, Well, we do have something that's
19:29
Speaker 3: going to come out. Yeah, yeah, you're you're trying to
19:32
Speaker 3: get out, so we will be The company did launch
19:36
Speaker 3: just recently got approved. So it's a product that the
19:40
Speaker 3: company is invested in GMP level manufacturing to produce these
19:46
Speaker 3: ODF strips that you put on your tongue and they
19:49
Speaker 3: will then quickly dissolve and then be absorbed through the gut.
19:54
Speaker 3: So this is a technology that the company is really
20:00
Speaker 3: floring as a way to to to do things and
20:04
Speaker 3: expand the form factor offering the patients. And you know,
20:08
Speaker 3: an ODF might be really great for certain populations. You know,
20:11
Speaker 3: I'm not here to say they're definitely better for one
20:14
Speaker 3: or the other, but patients that have problems swallowing or
20:16
Speaker 3: things like that. This is probably we have a products
20:19
Speaker 3: on our brand inside if c U S a which
20:22
Speaker 3: we never really talked about, but if c USA is
20:24
Speaker 3: our sister company, if you will, and they do some
20:27
Speaker 3: very fantastic things in a number of areas. And they've
20:30
Speaker 3: already launched our ODF vitamins cat you can get on Amazon,
20:36
Speaker 3: and then we'll be launching other drugs like Sidenti fill
20:40
Speaker 3: in the ODF platform. So there's a lot of stuff
20:43
Speaker 3: that is coming down the pike, you know, doing things differently.
20:47
Speaker 3: One of the things that we've been exploring is, which
20:50
Speaker 3: is very rare in generics, is a cash offering platform
20:54
Speaker 3: to acquire drugs. It's a it's it's an interesting dynamic
20:58
Speaker 3: in our industry now because in some cases, based on
21:03
Speaker 3: the insurance that you have, there might be more valuable
21:07
Speaker 3: to pay for certain products in cash than it is
21:09
Speaker 3: using your insurance based on your different criteria. But you know,
21:15
Speaker 3: cash historically in the pharmaceutical industry has been about maybe
21:19
Speaker 3: five to ten percent, depending on the drug or category
21:22
Speaker 3: in terms of being cash pay But with the advent
21:28
Speaker 3: of good RX and people challenging other ways to get
21:33
Speaker 3: their products that might be more cost effective. In some
21:37
Speaker 3: cases cash might be the case, but or some people
21:41
Speaker 3: that's the only way they can purchase their medicine. So
21:44
Speaker 3: again just making sure that we examine everything right, examine
21:48
Speaker 3: and don't neglect a patient population. And when I say
21:52
Speaker 3: patient population, there might be not the therapeutic area or subpopulation.
21:57
Speaker 3: Somebody has asthma, but they have asthma and como. So
22:00
Speaker 3: that I'm talking more about understanding the patients, you know,
22:04
Speaker 3: and independent pharmacies really opened our eyes to that because
22:06
Speaker 3: you know, we traditionally see them as rural areas that
22:10
Speaker 3: they're servicing and something like that, but they're very different.
22:13
Speaker 3: I mean, just living on the east side of Pennsylvania
22:16
Speaker 3: versus living on the West side of Pennsylvania. The dynamics
22:20
Speaker 3: of the communities are very different. And those are things
22:23
Speaker 3: that we need to think about. How are those patients
22:25
Speaker 3: accessing their medicines or can't access their medicines, How they
22:29
Speaker 3: do it just to a pharmacy, How much providers support
22:33
Speaker 3: do they get, can they see a physician? You know,
22:35
Speaker 3: all those different things come into play. So if you
22:38
Speaker 3: think about that, there's a lot of answers or questions
22:41
Speaker 3: that can get answered because of how we communicate our products.
22:46
Speaker 3: Because we understand how that communication of information and that
22:50
Speaker 3: delivery of healthcare is given to a patient.
22:53
Speaker 2: So I'm excited about a strategy that you came up with.
22:58
Speaker 2: You're making pharmacy podcast network part of it, which is
23:00
Speaker 2: pretty exciting. We're going to get into the details of this,
23:03
Speaker 2: but I'm going to give this away, I know, Stephen,
23:05
Speaker 2: once again, I'm throwing another curveball at you. We're going
23:08
Speaker 2: to we're going to do a Doing Things Differently tour
23:12
Speaker 2: in community pharmacies this summer.
23:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, one of the things that we did
23:18
Speaker 3: last year was to try to be more grassroots, and
23:23
Speaker 3: one of the programs we did it was actually sponsor
23:26
Speaker 3: a local race car driver who is part of a
23:30
Speaker 3: group of guys that are probably between their forties and
23:33
Speaker 3: sixties that are still getting down there and racing down
23:35
Speaker 3: a racetrack at one hundred and sixty eight miles an
23:37
Speaker 3: hour in these little cars that beat the heck out
23:41
Speaker 3: of them at the end of the day. And so
23:43
Speaker 3: we're not fancy, we're not splashy, we're not doing deals
23:46
Speaker 3: with Nike and that kind of stuff. But what we
23:49
Speaker 3: want to do is we want to be authentic, and
23:52
Speaker 3: I think authentic it goes back to the comment you
23:54
Speaker 3: made about companies being credible companies being uh, people can
24:01
Speaker 3: believe in them, and ultimately, we want people to believe
24:03
Speaker 3: in what we do. We want people to trust us.
24:06
Speaker 3: So we want people that hopefully, if anything else, believes
24:10
Speaker 3: that pharmaceutical companies can have their interests at heart. Right Uh.
24:14
Speaker 3: You know, the industry has taken a lot of lumps
24:16
Speaker 3: and bumps over the years, still do and rightfully so
24:20
Speaker 3: for some occasions, but not for all. I think what
24:22
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully this will do part.
24:24
Speaker 2: You're the new Steven Beckman, is the new Farmer Bra.
24:27
Speaker 2: I'mber farmer bro.
24:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know if that's.
24:30
Speaker 2: What positive farmer bro look at.
24:33
Speaker 3: I think most of the people I work with in
24:35
Speaker 3: this industry have gotten into it because they want to
24:37
Speaker 3: do it for the right things. I think, you know,
24:41
Speaker 3: we are we have to accept the fact that we're
24:44
Speaker 3: delivering in critical medicines and treatments, and if you don't
24:48
Speaker 3: take that seriously, if you don't have good intention, then
24:52
Speaker 3: it's one of the one of the many things that
24:55
Speaker 3: can break down the quality of health care delivery to patients.
24:58
Speaker 3: And I want to be a small part of it
25:00
Speaker 3: the right way. So I think that's that's what's exciting.
25:03
Speaker 3: So this year we want to expand that kind of
25:06
Speaker 3: concept of just grassroots and and have the conversation. And
25:11
Speaker 3: the conversation was about when you need something, go to
25:15
Speaker 3: the right position, go to the right pharmacists, and many
25:17
Speaker 3: times it is the pharmacist, and choose what is best.
25:20
Speaker 3: We're not trying to say our product is best or
25:23
Speaker 3: our products are the right choice. It's the right choice
25:26
Speaker 3: in the right situation, and that only happens through the dialogue,
25:29
Speaker 3: but through the healthcare providers with the patient. And if
25:32
Speaker 3: our products chosen for that right purpose in the right way,
25:35
Speaker 3: then it's a benefit for all of us. Right that
25:38
Speaker 3: means our drugs are being used. So we're going to
25:39
Speaker 3: add in Community Pharmacists Day, where we're going to go
25:42
Speaker 3: out to some of the community pharmacists and we know
25:44
Speaker 3: you'll be the one helping us lead a charge to
25:47
Speaker 3: raise a spotlight on them. And then we're even going
25:50
Speaker 3: to do something unique is I didn't know what a
25:54
Speaker 3: grange fair was. It's a small community fairs and we're
25:59
Speaker 3: actually going to sponsor or what I believe is one
26:02
Speaker 3: of the last free grange fairs in Pennsylvania, if not
26:06
Speaker 3: in the US. And that's just the spirit of it's
26:11
Speaker 3: so cool, right. It's not about making money. I'm sure
26:16
Speaker 3: they do at the end, or were they making money
26:17
Speaker 3: to cover their expenses, But it's about creating something for
26:21
Speaker 3: the community to be involved in, to enjoy each other,
26:25
Speaker 3: enjoy it. And we don't have a lot of that anymore.
26:27
Speaker 3: We don't have those things where things are free and
26:30
Speaker 3: you can just go and hang out with your neighbors.
26:33
Speaker 2: You remember, do you remember a little House in the Prairie?
26:35
Speaker 2: I doe our woman dad like that was our go to,
26:40
Speaker 2: like the kids, because there was so much crap on TV.
26:42
Speaker 2: My mom and dad were extremely conservative, so little House
26:45
Speaker 2: in the Prairie was like yeah, So I remember how
26:49
Speaker 2: many fairs and how many like get togethers as communities
26:52
Speaker 2: that they'd have, like different episodes that it would be
26:55
Speaker 2: a backdrop to the episode. But I always looked at that,
26:59
Speaker 2: I'm like, why don't we have more, you know, local
27:02
Speaker 2: get together stuff like these grange fairs.
27:05
Speaker 3: Well, maybe people are so busy now or at the
27:08
Speaker 3: end of the day, are our objectives are different than
27:11
Speaker 3: they used to be. I think today it's about what
27:14
Speaker 3: we what we have, you know, or how much money
27:18
Speaker 3: we're making or this or that. You know, look, we
27:21
Speaker 3: all want to have enough money to pay our bills
27:23
Speaker 3: and have a nice home and do all those things.
27:25
Speaker 3: I think those are all really important. We want to
27:27
Speaker 3: take care of our children, put them through school if
27:29
Speaker 3: that's what they want to do, or give them a
27:31
Speaker 3: head start on a career, whatever that might be. But
27:34
Speaker 3: you know, at the end of the day, we we
27:36
Speaker 3: forget that sometimes just celebrating people, celebrating community is important
27:43
Speaker 3: and that's kind of I mean, that's what many pharmacists
27:46
Speaker 3: are about. I mean, if you talk about an individual
27:48
Speaker 3: or individuals that probably embody that spirit, it would be
27:52
Speaker 3: a community pharmacist.
27:55
Speaker 2: Hey listen, if you are listening to this show, if
27:59
Speaker 2: you you have some insights into different aspects of care, seniors, sports, medicine,
28:08
Speaker 2: reaching out to the community with once again demystifying what's
28:12
Speaker 2: happening in healthcare to make people feel more inclusive of
28:17
Speaker 2: what's going on in their lives. That the individualism. The
28:21
Speaker 2: reason why people love their independent community pharmacies and their pharmacists,
28:26
Speaker 2: even in chain pharmacy, is because there's a relationship that
28:30
Speaker 2: develops and these people see these people, you know, nine
28:34
Speaker 2: ten times more a year than what they're seeing their physicians,
28:37
Speaker 2: just because of the dynamic of how healthcare is working.
28:41
Speaker 2: And I want people to reach out to you, Steven,
28:44
Speaker 2: and I think you are big on LinkedIn, aren't you.
28:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, the company has a LinkedIn page and we also
28:50
Speaker 3: have a website wwwurlpharma dot com. If we do anything,
28:56
Speaker 3: we want to make sure people understand that we want
28:59
Speaker 3: to do things for the for the right reason and
29:02
Speaker 3: and to continue to be able to achieve that means
29:05
Speaker 3: we have to be willing to listen and open our
29:09
Speaker 3: eyes and take the criticism when we should, and and
29:13
Speaker 3: take the praise when we should, and and ultimately be
29:16
Speaker 3: able to identify those things that are unique or enhanced
29:20
Speaker 3: or different. And thus ultimately we do because we still
29:24
Speaker 3: need to build that trust and and they should have
29:27
Speaker 3: that trust. Though no patient should ever worry about anything
29:30
Speaker 3: that they're ever getting from the pharmacists because of the
29:32
Speaker 3: quality of the product. So we will we will do that.
29:35
Speaker 3: So if anything is our company will continue to try
29:39
Speaker 3: to build a sound portfolio of high quality products. We
29:41
Speaker 3: will continue to try to present them in a way
29:45
Speaker 3: that is transparent, honest, clear, and then hopefully you know
29:51
Speaker 3: at the end of the day we could be one
29:53
Speaker 3: of the many companies that show start showing a brighter
29:58
Speaker 3: spotlight on the the value of manufacturers in a positive way.
30:03
Speaker 3: And then that I think when you create that good
30:05
Speaker 3: vibe and that good energy, even more good ideas come about.
30:09
Speaker 3: And that's what we want. We want continue to stop
30:13
Speaker 3: doing things the way we always do them and start
30:14
Speaker 3: doing the way we should do them.
30:17
Speaker 2: Hey, listen, it's been so good to have you in
30:20
Speaker 2: the studio. It's good to spend time with you. I
30:23
Speaker 2: want to make sure that the listeners know that we'll
30:26
Speaker 2: be back for something in supply chain or Yeah, we.
30:30
Speaker 3: Want to continue to tackle both in terms of what
30:33
Speaker 3: we do for the route podcasts and what we do
30:34
Speaker 3: on the executive dose is exactly what you mentioned earlier,
30:38
Speaker 3: and that is just to have a conversation that will
30:41
Speaker 3: broaden the understanding or viewpoint of what happens in our industry. So,
30:46
Speaker 3: you know, it's supply chain in our business is extremely complicated.
30:53
Speaker 3: And you know, one of the things that whether you
30:56
Speaker 3: agree with all the things that are happening in our
30:58
Speaker 3: government or not, you know, one of the things that
31:01
Speaker 3: our federal government has been trying to do is kind
31:04
Speaker 3: of rebalance things in terms of manufacturing in the US.
31:10
Speaker 3: For most pharmaceutical product is not manufacturing in the US.
31:14
Speaker 3: Ninety plus percent of all API or the drug substance
31:18
Speaker 3: is produced offshore. So whether it be the strategic stockpile
31:23
Speaker 3: for products to support patients in a need in the US,
31:27
Speaker 3: which would be considered strategic or critical for the US,
31:33
Speaker 3: or whether it's just continuity to supply or things like that,
31:39
Speaker 3: that's probably not a bad thing if we can we
31:41
Speaker 3: could rebalance that a little bit. I mean, there's a
31:43
Speaker 3: look at there's a lot of high quality manufacturers around
31:46
Speaker 3: the world, and I'm not taking anything away from any
31:49
Speaker 3: of those suppliers. But what we want to do is
31:54
Speaker 3: we got to continue to find ways to control costs because,
31:57
Speaker 3: like anything else, everything goes up in costs, whether it
32:00
Speaker 3: be the plastics for meter dose and healer, whether the
32:04
Speaker 3: API drug itself, whether it be manufacturing costs just because
32:10
Speaker 3: change parts in our manufacturing lines, which are very sophisticated
32:13
Speaker 3: to become more expensive and things like that. So but
32:16
Speaker 3: at the same time, everybody wants the price to be lower,
32:19
Speaker 3: So we've got to We've got to continually the challenge
32:22
Speaker 3: that in a way to make sure that we're still
32:27
Speaker 3: servicing our customer, which is ultimately the patient. So we'll
32:31
Speaker 3: talk about that, and we'll hopefully talk about a lot
32:34
Speaker 3: of other topics that are influencing, you know, the pharmaceutical industry,
32:39
Speaker 3: and I hope that will encourage, as you said, a
32:42
Speaker 3: local pharmacystem maybe call us and talk about what's their challenges,
32:46
Speaker 3: what their opportunities are, you know, doing the Pharmacy fifty
32:52
Speaker 3: with you, which is a great program that you've launched,
32:54
Speaker 3: and it's thirty year now, right, thirty year, fourth year,
32:58
Speaker 3: so you know, listening to them understanding where they need
33:02
Speaker 3: to go or where they want to go, it's pretty
33:05
Speaker 3: cool stuff. So that gives us the idea of how
33:08
Speaker 3: can we do it? And that's where really the I
33:10
Speaker 3: think we want to call it the Bumps and Bruises
33:12
Speaker 3: Summer Tour, you know. And I've never in my thirty years,
33:20
Speaker 3: have done a program where we're just going out and
33:23
Speaker 3: collecting a group of independent pharmacists highlighting their contribution to
33:27
Speaker 3: their patients and their community and talking about the good
33:30
Speaker 3: and maybe some of the challenge. But bring that spotlight
33:33
Speaker 3: it because to me, that's more powerful than a lot
33:36
Speaker 3: of the pr promotion with things that we could do
33:39
Speaker 3: because we are in our way helping the system get better,
33:43
Speaker 3: and ultimately the system's working better. Then you know, business
33:46
Speaker 3: takes care of itself, right. You know, the product flow
33:48
Speaker 3: will go through the right patients will get the right products,
33:51
Speaker 3: and everybody can be successful. So we're really really pumped
33:56
Speaker 3: to do that kind of stuff. Maybe I'm just getting
33:58
Speaker 3: old and I just wanted to do a lot of
34:01
Speaker 3: good before I go. Yeah, they hang me up and
34:04
Speaker 3: put me out the past year or something.
34:06
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks so much for listening. Subscribe on all podcast platforms, Apple, Spotify,
34:11
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your podcast. Share this episode with
34:16
Speaker 2: a fellow of person in pharmacy care and pharmacy administration,
34:21
Speaker 2: your distribution partner, the wholesaler that you work with, Just
34:25
Speaker 2: let them know that things are different now. Things have
34:28
Speaker 2: to be different now we're in a different age of
34:29
Speaker 2: pharmacy and pharmacy care. Stephen, thanks so much.
34:32
Speaker 3: It's always a pleasure job.