Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / YARAL Pharma Expands Access to Prescription Topical Patches Through Telehealth | Executive Dose

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YARAL Pharma Expands Access to Prescription Topical Patches Through Telehealth | Executive Dose · 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.
0:21
Speaker 2: The subject of telehealth and the importance of what it
0:24
Speaker 2: means for public health as well as the issues that
0:27
Speaker 2: we're facing with pharmacy deserts has come up in the
0:30
Speaker 2: news again and this is kind of a fun tie
0:34
Speaker 2: into the Executive Dose, and we're going to be talking
0:37
Speaker 2: more about that. But your Ral Pharma prescription topical Patch
0:40
Speaker 2: is now available through upscript Health's telehealth platform. More on
0:45
Speaker 2: telehealth coming up on the Executive Dose.
0:55
Speaker 3: Welcome to Executive Dose, the podcast where pharmaceutical leadership meets
1:01
Speaker 3: unfiltered insight, Hosted by Stephen Beckman, CEO of Your All Pharma.
1:06
Speaker 3: Each episode explores the complex forces shaping today's pharmaceutical industry,
1:10
Speaker 3: from global supply chain stress and regulatory shakeups to innovation
1:14
Speaker 3: in branded and generic drug markets. Join us as we
1:17
Speaker 3: engage sea level leaders and decision makers and candid conversations
1:21
Speaker 3: about navigating disruption, driving growth, and preparing for the next
1:25
Speaker 3: era of pharmaceutical transformation. Curiosity leads strategy follows. This is
1:30
Speaker 3: the Executive Dose.
1:37
Speaker 2: Hey, so, if you didn't hear a US generics company
1:42
Speaker 2: named you RALP Pharma who's been a partner and has
1:45
Speaker 2: supported our publication for years now. They come up with
1:49
Speaker 2: great ideas about how they can impact the ecosystem of
1:53
Speaker 2: pharmacy care. And we've dialed into senior care, We've dialed
1:56
Speaker 2: into independent community of pharmacy, We've been into pain management.
2:00
Speaker 2: I'm excited about today's episode of the Executive Dose. I'm
2:04
Speaker 2: kicking it over to our host, the CEO of UYL Pharma,
2:08
Speaker 2: Steven Beckman.
2:09
Speaker 4: Welcome back.
2:10
Speaker 5: It's always a pleasure try to be back and thank
2:12
Speaker 5: you for that intro. You know. You know, we've spent
2:16
Speaker 5: a lot of time in the last couple of years
2:18
Speaker 5: through different mediums to really focus on the pharmacy channel.
2:21
Speaker 5: And as you said, there's there's many little facets or
2:25
Speaker 5: channels within the channel of pharmacy. And one of the
2:29
Speaker 5: things that EURAL has always been trying to focus on
2:32
Speaker 5: is how do we continue to improve access, which is
2:35
Speaker 5: kind of in our DNA right because generics are always about,
2:38
Speaker 5: you know, in providing products at a cost that will
2:42
Speaker 5: improve access for patients. So that's the kind of how
2:45
Speaker 5: the generic industry is born. So you know, one of
2:48
Speaker 5: the things that we've tried to do at Eurral is
2:51
Speaker 5: our new tagline is doing things differently, and so one
2:54
Speaker 5: of the things that we've launched this year, as you
2:57
Speaker 5: mentioned in February, is looking at how we continue to
3:02
Speaker 5: press upon that concept of improving access to patients through
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Speaker 5: pharmacy platforms or through contingent or tangential activities like telehealth.
3:13
Speaker 5: And so we were really really pleased to have the
3:15
Speaker 5: opportunity to sit down last year and to work with
3:20
Speaker 5: and start to collaborate with upscripts Health and with us
3:24
Speaker 5: today we have Dan Snyder and and Dan has been
3:27
Speaker 5: instrumental to helping us bring forward the opportunity to make
3:31
Speaker 5: some of our products available through the telehealth platform for
3:35
Speaker 5: the first time, which is fairly unusual and unique for Generics,
3:38
Speaker 5: and create another point of access through their telehealth platform
3:43
Speaker 5: and pharmacy to offer our products to patients who either
3:48
Speaker 5: are having challenges as you said, pharmacy deserts or other
3:52
Speaker 5: or don't have access to even physicians. And this is
3:55
Speaker 5: obviously an important platform. And this platform all obviously was
3:58
Speaker 5: very important and became true lead a life during the
4:00
Speaker 5: COVID period when everybody was locked down but I think
4:03
Speaker 5: what's something that's really important in the value of this
4:07
Speaker 5: podcast today is to talk a little bit to Dan about,
4:10
Speaker 5: you know, what is transpired since then, you know, because
4:12
Speaker 5: telehealth is still here, it's still very important and we
4:14
Speaker 5: think it's an important asset.
4:16
Speaker 4: So with that, Dan, welcome to the show.
4:18
Speaker 6: Well, hey, it's a pleasure.
4:19
Speaker 4: To be here.
4:20
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me, Stephen.
4:22
Speaker 5: Well, Dan, why don't we start with that, maybe a
4:24
Speaker 5: quick ten seconds fifteen seconds on who upscript is, let
4:28
Speaker 5: me everybody know who upscript really is, who might not
4:31
Speaker 5: be one hundred percent familiar, and then maybe just talk
4:34
Speaker 5: a little bit about that point we were going, what
4:37
Speaker 5: has been the evolution since COVID.
4:42
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm Dan
4:45
Speaker 7: starting the chief revenue officer here at upscript, and I've
4:48
Speaker 7: been here since we started this company twenty five years ago,
4:50
Speaker 7: so I have seen a lot and it's been really
4:53
Speaker 7: exciting to see what has happened in the tele medicine
4:56
Speaker 7: space and how.
4:57
Speaker 6: It's grown and evolved.
5:00
Speaker 7: We were even prior to the pandemic, we had a
5:02
Speaker 7: few farmer partnerships going with with direct to patient telemedicine.
5:06
Speaker 7: But you know, as you're as you mentioned, the pandemic
5:10
Speaker 7: is really what I'll say, it was kind of the
5:12
Speaker 7: first evolution you know of telemedicine really bring it to
5:16
Speaker 7: the forefront.
5:17
Speaker 6: Because of need.
5:18
Speaker 4: Right.
5:18
Speaker 7: What what I constantly was hearing during the pandemic is,
5:22
Speaker 7: you know what was of interest uh, you know, before
5:25
Speaker 7: the pandemic became a necessity as patients couldn't get into
5:29
Speaker 7: physicians office, the only the only way to really access
5:32
Speaker 7: care for for you know, pretty long period of time,
5:35
Speaker 7: what was through a telemedicine interaction. So and as that
5:42
Speaker 7: evolution has continued, we've we've launched probably close to seventy
5:47
Speaker 7: brands with pharmaceutical companies over the last six years with
5:52
Speaker 7: you know, this direct to patient model where you know
5:55
Speaker 7: patient uh you know is interested in medication, is interested
5:59
Speaker 7: in a treat you know, is able to come through
6:01
Speaker 7: the platform that we build for these partnerships and.
6:06
Speaker 6: Increase access to care.
6:07
Speaker 7: You know, I heard you mentioned that earlier, but really
6:09
Speaker 7: at the end of the day, that's what it's all about.
6:11
Speaker 7: It's increasing access to care for patients.
6:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, Dan, let me just jump in form it because
6:16
Speaker 5: I want to go back to the point you just
6:17
Speaker 5: made in direct to patient. I think that's a term
6:21
Speaker 5: that not many everybody thinks about, but that's actually what
6:24
Speaker 5: this is, right. This is a platform that integrates ability
6:29
Speaker 5: to go to a patient through both providing the medical
6:36
Speaker 5: oversight that they need and the pharmacy because it all
6:38
Speaker 5: ties in together so that they can actually have that
6:41
Speaker 5: physician visit and actually get their medicine and get it
6:45
Speaker 5: probably even maybe more efficient in some ways than maybe
6:47
Speaker 5: they were before. And so you know, when we think
6:50
Speaker 5: about that, that's what's really important. I think that's the
6:53
Speaker 5: underbelly for us, is that ultimately the way the world
6:57
Speaker 5: has worked for us in our industry has to continue
6:59
Speaker 5: to improve, get better, but it always always has to
7:02
Speaker 5: start with improving the ability for patients to have access.
7:07
Speaker 4: And so this is a.
7:09
Speaker 5: True I'm actually glad you said that because I've always
7:12
Speaker 5: said telehealth in this, but it actually is a director
7:14
Speaker 5: patient and and the fact is that you know, they've
7:17
Speaker 5: been able to do over seventy brands, So this is
7:20
Speaker 5: another way for companies to create a channel pathway to
7:27
Speaker 5: ensure patients that are in need for whatever reason have
7:31
Speaker 5: that access. So what have been what have been some
7:33
Speaker 5: of the successes you know, over the last couple of
7:36
Speaker 5: years do you think the telehealth and this directed patient
7:39
Speaker 5: platform has brought and then and then we'll maybe go
7:42
Speaker 5: into some of the challenges or some of the challenges
7:45
Speaker 5: that we continue to face today.
7:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, and when we talk about you know, successes, I
7:52
Speaker 7: really think it's what this field has expanded to be
7:56
Speaker 7: able to treat. And you know, when we talk about access,
7:59
Speaker 7: we're not trying to place care here. Really, we're just
8:01
Speaker 7: really trying to you know, give the patient more options.
8:05
Speaker 7: You know, I'd say even before the pandemic, it was
8:07
Speaker 7: it was hard to get into to see a physician. Uh,
8:10
Speaker 7: and that definitely has not changed after uh and especially
8:14
Speaker 7: when we get into like specialists, right can take can
8:16
Speaker 7: take months, So you're taking that that period of time
8:21
Speaker 7: from you know, months down to days, if not hours
8:24
Speaker 7: to get a patient on treatment. And when we talk
8:27
Speaker 7: about successes, if you had asked me prior to pandemic,
8:31
Speaker 7: what I thought would be coming through a tele mesine
8:33
Speaker 7: channel would have been more simpler lifestyle medications. But what's
8:37
Speaker 7: been exciting to see is that we've gotten into rare
8:40
Speaker 7: diseases diabetes care. So we've really expanded to the point where, uh,
8:47
Speaker 7: we even do someone on cology. We do a sophageal
8:49
Speaker 7: cancer testing program. So it's just been exciting to see
8:53
Speaker 7: what we're able to do with this platform and really
8:56
Speaker 7: meet the meet.
8:56
Speaker 6: The patient's needs. And it's not always about right.
9:00
Speaker 7: Sometimes it's it's just providing follow up care or information
9:04
Speaker 7: for patients.
9:05
Speaker 6: So it's it's exciting.
9:07
Speaker 7: To see what happens with this model and how it
9:08
Speaker 7: grows and develops.
9:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you made a couple other good points there.
9:12
Speaker 5: First of all, this is not to kind of replace,
9:15
Speaker 5: but to augment and and and give choice, you know.
9:18
Speaker 5: And when we talk about our products, some of our
9:21
Speaker 5: paint patches and doctor Garifolli or we always talk about
9:26
Speaker 5: the choice, choice, choice, choice and option, and I think
9:30
Speaker 5: that is important for people to understand. I think the
9:34
Speaker 5: other interesting thing that Dan brought up that has also
9:37
Speaker 5: been something that's come through some of the podcasts, especially
9:41
Speaker 5: on Pharmacy Focus, is the expansion of service.
9:45
Speaker 4: Right.
9:46
Speaker 5: So obviously in the pharmacy, we're starting to see especially
9:49
Speaker 5: independent pharmacists find ways to be more than just a
9:53
Speaker 5: front end store where they're buying a candy bar and
9:55
Speaker 5: their way up of getting only their prescriptions on the
9:57
Speaker 5: back they're offering services, So Dan, maybe you can you
10:01
Speaker 5: elaborate that a little bit more. Do you see that
10:04
Speaker 5: telehealth is going to offer more testing, more services. Obviously
10:10
Speaker 5: your point about expanding from traditionally more life sized, life
10:14
Speaker 5: style drugs to more chronic type management. But if you're
10:19
Speaker 5: heading in that direction, then I would think a very
10:22
Speaker 5: practical and highly valuable to patients will be how that
10:27
Speaker 5: services could be provided, and how that would could be
10:29
Speaker 5: provided even through your pharmacy or you know, parallel what
10:33
Speaker 5: we're seeing in some of the independent pharmacies out there
10:36
Speaker 5: around the US.
10:39
Speaker 7: That's great, and as this model's expanded. You mentioned testing
10:42
Speaker 7: right now. Now we've incorporated the ability to issue labor
10:46
Speaker 7: requisitions to patients for certain conditions, therapy areas that may.
10:50
Speaker 6: Require allow test prior to being.
10:53
Speaker 7: Prescribed, and we even have programs where even after the
10:56
Speaker 7: initial prescription is written and shipped the patient, it requires
11:00
Speaker 7: follow up lad testing before.
11:02
Speaker 6: They can get a refill.
11:04
Speaker 7: We've launched programs over the past six months that require
11:06
Speaker 7: patients to get into physicians offices even so patient can
11:10
Speaker 7: come through the telemess and platform. It might be getting
11:13
Speaker 7: issue to prescription for something that has to be inserted
11:16
Speaker 7: in a physician's office. So our our Patients support team those instances, well,
11:20
Speaker 7: we'll work with the patient to get them into the
11:23
Speaker 7: physician's office for an insertion.
11:25
Speaker 6: We we've done programs that require.
11:28
Speaker 7: Injections and alternative sites of care and those those are
11:32
Speaker 7: we'll say complicated patient cloths where we're actually working with
11:36
Speaker 7: that patient and that ASOC center to to determine not
11:39
Speaker 7: only coverage, find something close for that patient, find way
11:42
Speaker 7: they have coverage, and really coordinate care on getting that
11:45
Speaker 7: patient into UH to receive an injection. And you know,
11:52
Speaker 7: as it continued to expand with programs where they're there
11:55
Speaker 7: aren't existing prescriptions given and there's a side effect that
12:00
Speaker 7: a common side effect with the prescription, and so they're
12:04
Speaker 7: able to come through telemedicine. We'll educate our position network
12:06
Speaker 7: on that side effect. Patients can come over and now
12:09
Speaker 7: they're meeting with the physician that is, you know, trained
12:13
Speaker 7: on those side effects and can prescribe, you know, what's appropriate,
12:18
Speaker 7: which is another important part. And we talk about these physicians.
12:21
Speaker 7: So each one of these programs, the physicians they're meeting
12:24
Speaker 7: with these patients are trained specifically on the therapy area
12:27
Speaker 7: and the treatment available, So you've got yeah, you've got
12:30
Speaker 7: to educated interaction between that physician and that patient.
12:34
Speaker 5: And I like to talk about the dynamic of the
12:36
Speaker 5: physicians in your physician group in a minute, but just
12:39
Speaker 5: just to finish the thought on this kind of expansion,
12:43
Speaker 5: is there a world in the next you know, three
12:46
Speaker 5: to five years where you could actually see telehealth and
12:49
Speaker 5: how it grows actually get integrated back into on the
12:53
Speaker 5: ground opportunities, meaning you actually the telehealth facilitates the ability
12:59
Speaker 5: to go to a patient to a pharmacy or to
13:03
Speaker 5: a testing center or I mean, I can think this
13:08
Speaker 5: is really big if this is really continues to grow,
13:10
Speaker 5: even patients that are managing addiction or something where you
13:13
Speaker 5: actually are facilitating a platform that will help initiate patients
13:18
Speaker 5: to somewhere that's in their region where they can get
13:20
Speaker 5: physical care immediately and not just telehealth.
13:24
Speaker 6: One hundred percent.
13:25
Speaker 7: And it's interesting bring that up because they're a program
13:27
Speaker 7: that we probably we're in discussion with, but does just
13:31
Speaker 7: that and addiction right, and it's about now a patient
13:36
Speaker 7: they can come through get treated through our platform.
13:39
Speaker 6: And this requires a nurse navigator.
13:41
Speaker 7: So if a prescription is issued and shift to that
13:43
Speaker 7: patient it comes with a nurse actually has to go
13:47
Speaker 7: spend like the first three days of meeting with that
13:50
Speaker 7: patient to monitor to treatment. So to your point, it's
13:54
Speaker 7: really expanding to to you know, let's say those two
13:57
Speaker 7: worlds collide, right, tell them.
14:00
Speaker 6: Yeah, in person care.
14:01
Speaker 5: So Todd, you know, when I'm thinking, I'm trying to
14:03
Speaker 5: think ahead that we always like to say we want
14:05
Speaker 5: to be ahead of the curve. You know, as manufacturers,
14:08
Speaker 5: I feel like almost that you have to have a
14:11
Speaker 5: defined telehealth part to your strategy, like when we put
14:15
Speaker 5: a launch plan together or product plan. You know, one
14:18
Speaker 5: of the things we're doing is we're talking about payer
14:20
Speaker 5: coverage and we're obviously have to set up pricing and
14:23
Speaker 5: the messaging and all that stuff. But you know, and
14:26
Speaker 5: there's certain channels we have to worry about, our direct
14:29
Speaker 5: customers and our pharmacy. But I'm really kind of I
14:32
Speaker 5: think what's going to happen in the future is we're
14:34
Speaker 5: going to see some of these really unique integrations that
14:38
Speaker 5: have been more traditionally separate. You know, because Dan, if
14:41
Speaker 5: I'm not mistaken, upscripts only has one primary pharmacy that
14:46
Speaker 5: you guys use to support. So maybe the opportunity to
14:50
Speaker 5: collaborate with regional independent pharmacies to create additional value or
14:55
Speaker 5: something could could be really kind of dynamics. So I
15:00
Speaker 5: think this is a great topic for pharmacy to think
15:04
Speaker 5: about potentially integration where some of ook we got vertical
15:08
Speaker 5: integration just about everywhere else, why not trying to continue
15:11
Speaker 5: that as we as we go because it all parallels, right.
15:13
Speaker 5: Telehealth is for bringing physician management or physicians support to
15:17
Speaker 5: pharmacy and delivering, and now pharmacies are looking at ways
15:22
Speaker 5: to add testing service bring and are required now to
15:26
Speaker 5: be more of that physician side our healthcare provider side
15:29
Speaker 5: as well. So I think there's some interesting parallels there.
15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I also just want to make a quick
15:34
Speaker 2: comment about the future and technology and AI and everything
15:38
Speaker 2: that's going to impact. So we have things called transdermal
15:41
Speaker 2: drug delivery systems now they're called t dds's, they're known
15:46
Speaker 2: as living pharmacies. These are going to be inserted into
15:48
Speaker 2: people's skin, especially with like an opioid use disorder, and
15:52
Speaker 2: be able to fill these systems with specific medications and
15:56
Speaker 2: then be able to interact with people's bodies on the fly,
16:00
Speaker 2: and telehealth will be tied right, into that, right, even
16:04
Speaker 2: from the iPhone where if someone is feeling a certain
16:07
Speaker 2: way or experiencing something, they can just fire up their
16:10
Speaker 2: telehealth and yeah fire.
16:12
Speaker 5: Life health management prevention platforms, right, Dan, Yeah.
16:16
Speaker 7: That's a that's a great point, and bring up Todd
16:18
Speaker 7: because we're starting to see some of these and and
16:23
Speaker 7: addiction and some other bread where it's coming with an app,
16:26
Speaker 7: whether it's a device, there's a lot of new therapy
16:29
Speaker 7: achievements coming out and it does it comes with the
16:31
Speaker 7: device with an app and that and that physician is
16:33
Speaker 7: monitoring that patient through through that application remotely. So it
16:38
Speaker 7: is it is exciting to see what's happening from from
16:41
Speaker 7: a technology standpoint.
16:42
Speaker 5: Well, we're never bored in this industry trying to new
16:45
Speaker 5: ways and what's to make it better. So we've talked
16:47
Speaker 5: a lot about Dan about a lot of the good
16:50
Speaker 5: things that that telehealth and has brought. I think it's
16:56
Speaker 5: clear that it provides a an additional pathway for patients.
17:01
Speaker 5: It provides opportunity for us, like manufacturers, to do something
17:05
Speaker 5: that we haven't done. You know, up until launching with upscript,
17:09
Speaker 5: there was not a cash option for us for our
17:12
Speaker 5: products and our pain patch products so to be able
17:17
Speaker 5: to bring something and not only just through another platform,
17:20
Speaker 5: it also is a different mechanism in which to acquire
17:23
Speaker 5: because this is a cash base scenario. So you know,
17:27
Speaker 5: if you have different dynamics with commercial coverage or things
17:31
Speaker 5: like that, you know that in itself is also part
17:34
Speaker 5: of that access.
17:36
Speaker 2: I want to talk about to both of you about
17:38
Speaker 2: the psychology of healthcare over the years that we have
17:42
Speaker 2: lulled our society into thinking that they have to pull
17:46
Speaker 2: the insurance card for one hundred percent of anything to
17:49
Speaker 2: do with your healthcare. But if you take your car
17:53
Speaker 2: and you buy a brand new car, you know you're
17:55
Speaker 2: going to go to the to the to get your
17:58
Speaker 2: oil changed. You know you're going to get your rakes change.
18:01
Speaker 2: You don't pull out your car insurance for those interactions. Right, So,
18:05
Speaker 2: if people understand I'm in more control of my healthcare,
18:09
Speaker 2: I can turn on some technology, have a conversation with
18:13
Speaker 2: my doctor or my pharmacist's follow up, I can pull
18:16
Speaker 2: the lever, put in my credit card number, It's all assured,
18:19
Speaker 2: and now I have my own medication. There's an aspect
18:23
Speaker 2: of freedom feeling to that, and there are a lot
18:25
Speaker 2: of consumers who would eat that up if they thought
18:27
Speaker 2: they were getting personalized services. And by the way, it
18:30
Speaker 2: demystifies medication usage because now they're part of this in
18:34
Speaker 2: this transaction. Everybody's used to using their mobile phone. It's
18:38
Speaker 2: really meeting You've said this, these are your words. It's
18:41
Speaker 2: meeting patients where they are and really doing things differently
18:45
Speaker 2: than the way we've been doing them.
18:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll stand the comment too, but I think you know,
18:51
Speaker 5: the fact of the matter is is the world continues
18:53
Speaker 5: to evolve and change, and what deductible deductibles change on
18:57
Speaker 5: high deductible plans and insurance companies, people are playing both.
19:02
Speaker 5: You know, what their their benefit is in terms of
19:05
Speaker 5: pulling out the insurance card versus paying cash, and depending
19:07
Speaker 5: on the time of year and the coverage and you know,
19:10
Speaker 5: are they in Medicare or what have you, there is
19:14
Speaker 5: a clear advantage financially to actually pay in cash. And two,
19:21
Speaker 5: I think your points well taken. I think there's also
19:24
Speaker 5: a sense of control and an immediacy because I think
19:29
Speaker 5: obviously with this with cash you pay, you're going to
19:32
Speaker 5: get it if if you're fighting with the insurance company
19:34
Speaker 5: to cover something or cover a full amount back and forth.
19:38
Speaker 5: And I just had a prescription I was covered and
19:40
Speaker 5: then now it's not, and you know it was you
19:42
Speaker 5: know it was one hundred and twenty bucks. So you
19:44
Speaker 5: have to you have to manage all these things. But
19:46
Speaker 5: I do think to your point, it's going to continue
19:49
Speaker 5: to force patients to become even more engaged in what
19:56
Speaker 5: we're doing. We've done all things. I mean, I've been
19:58
Speaker 5: in this industry for thirty years, and we are doing
20:00
Speaker 5: prevention programs with our drugs and helping doctors way back
20:03
Speaker 5: and patients back. But now we're at the point we
20:05
Speaker 5: do have the technology, we do have the tools, and
20:07
Speaker 5: now we're getting to the point where dynamics like not
20:11
Speaker 5: everything's covered or it's covered at a really high price,
20:14
Speaker 5: now forces us to think a little bit better and
20:16
Speaker 5: actually do a little homework. And it actually better for
20:19
Speaker 5: me to pay for this prescription and CASS and it
20:21
Speaker 5: is to go through my insurance. But Dan, what do
20:23
Speaker 5: you think about that question?
20:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, one hundred percent.
20:26
Speaker 7: And we're seeing a lot more pharma companies, even with
20:28
Speaker 7: product launches, trying to is there a cash price that
20:31
Speaker 7: makes sense and look trump our X however, we look
20:36
Speaker 7: at that. But the purpose of that is, right, is
20:40
Speaker 7: making these things. A lot of those products a launch
20:43
Speaker 7: initially are not cheap. But I think we're going to
20:46
Speaker 7: see more and more companies try and find a cash
20:50
Speaker 7: paid that makes sense, right, you know better than I do.
20:53
Speaker 7: How that's just from the time the drug starts, you know,
20:56
Speaker 7: everyone taking a little piece along the way until the end.
20:59
Speaker 6: I mean, I don't want to say is broken. That's
21:03
Speaker 6: probably too commonly his phrase.
21:05
Speaker 4: But no, no, it is. I've said it.
21:08
Speaker 5: There's there's right great things about it, but there are
21:11
Speaker 5: things that can be may say, it's not broken, but
21:14
Speaker 5: it needs to be modified. That's that's it needs to
21:18
Speaker 5: be modified and needs to be modified fairly significantly. And
21:21
Speaker 5: that's exactly so you know, Dan makes a really good point.
21:24
Speaker 5: So even our sister company at USA, we've just launched
21:27
Speaker 5: a product over there, and uh, you know, one of
21:29
Speaker 5: the questions has to be as part of your preparation
21:32
Speaker 5: is is you know, is there a cash price that
21:34
Speaker 5: you can put in the market? Is should this be
21:36
Speaker 5: a cash only product. It's even now a point where
21:40
Speaker 5: some of our product life cycle management, even the products
21:43
Speaker 5: that we have a year route, at some point we
21:44
Speaker 5: might say these products based on how they're covered or
21:48
Speaker 5: not covered, what's the tear they're on, and so forth,
21:50
Speaker 5: actually makes it more accessible to patients if we only
21:53
Speaker 5: make it available via cash. So and and obviously telehealth
21:57
Speaker 5: and platforms like that have kind of led the way
22:00
Speaker 5: with that because a lot of that has been either
22:03
Speaker 5: traditionally driven by lifestyle originally and so forth, which was
22:06
Speaker 5: always cash pace.
22:07
Speaker 4: So I think as we see.
22:09
Speaker 5: The evolution and the pressure on the payer side and
22:12
Speaker 5: so forth, we are going to see the definitive question
22:16
Speaker 5: about how does cash now become king and pharmaceuticals. And
22:20
Speaker 5: if you think about it historically, and this has been
22:22
Speaker 5: pretty consistent throughout my career, and Danny might have different
22:25
Speaker 5: information that suggests differently, but it's about a ten percent
22:29
Speaker 5: of any products. So when we launch a pharmaceutical product,
22:33
Speaker 5: usually historically ten percent would fall into some form of
22:37
Speaker 5: cash payment versus you know, either Medicaid, medicare or commercial pay.
22:42
Speaker 5: So I think we're going to see that, and I
22:45
Speaker 5: think in so doing that comes back to a positive
22:48
Speaker 5: outcome for pharmacy too, because as some more of this
22:51
Speaker 5: come a cash pay situation, that's better for the pharmacy,
22:56
Speaker 5: especially independent pharmacy, because they're getting paid now they're not
22:58
Speaker 5: waiting for reimbursement, wondering what that reimbursement is, or you
23:02
Speaker 5: know what they've changed in the paradigm of the reimbursement model,
23:06
Speaker 5: and all of a sudden they getting you know, two
23:08
Speaker 5: dollars left of the prescription than they were just you know,
23:11
Speaker 5: a month before. So I think there's gonna be some
23:13
Speaker 5: real benefits to that across the board, not just the patients.
23:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, think about the delay and getting the
23:19
Speaker 7: patient on treatment as prioritizations trying to get get processed
23:23
Speaker 7: and a physician in the standard office. So I think
23:26
Speaker 7: less than fifty percent of those proversations even get completed
23:29
Speaker 7: by a doctor's office.
23:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Great Tunnel.
23:31
Speaker 7: Medicine is great because one hundred percent of those aren't completed,
23:35
Speaker 7: which has another benefit to that, to that model.
23:37
Speaker 5: And you got to ask the question, you know, get
23:39
Speaker 5: down into the nitty gritty. I mean, there is arguments
23:42
Speaker 5: that be very favorable for acute drugs versus chronic drugs
23:45
Speaker 5: for different things and so forth. So, but I do
23:48
Speaker 5: want to make sure that we have time, Dan, because
23:51
Speaker 5: you know, one of the things that we've tried to
23:52
Speaker 5: do with this executive dose is is to is to
23:57
Speaker 5: bring a sense of transparency, a clarity. I'd like to
24:02
Speaker 5: say honesty, but I want to I don't want to
24:04
Speaker 5: like to use that word because I want to believe
24:05
Speaker 5: that everybody's honest and how we're dealing within our healthcare environment.
24:09
Speaker 5: But the idea here is obviously to look at the
24:12
Speaker 5: good and the bad, and you know, and preparing for
24:15
Speaker 5: this podcast and and just through my reading, you know,
24:18
Speaker 5: some of the stuff that does come up as a
24:21
Speaker 5: challenge for telehealth is the obviously the the question about
24:29
Speaker 5: influence on a physician prescribing right, and you know, are
24:34
Speaker 5: these physicians still free to prescribe openly even on the
24:39
Speaker 5: platform that we're on with our product with you they
24:41
Speaker 5: can go in obviously if a patient's going in, they're
24:43
Speaker 5: probably looking for our product and the and the physician
24:47
Speaker 5: has to assess whether or not that is appropriate or
24:49
Speaker 5: not and say yes or no. But you know, I
24:52
Speaker 5: know that you know, federal government's looking at this a
24:55
Speaker 5: little bit more closely maybe historically now, so.
24:59
Speaker 4: Uh what what would you.
25:01
Speaker 5: Say as as an organization that represents you know, telehealth
25:07
Speaker 5: to kind of dismiss some of those concerns. I can
25:11
Speaker 5: tell you firsthand, Dan, and I and I will make
25:13
Speaker 5: this I think I think this is very important, is
25:17
Speaker 5: that in all the conversations that we've had with upscript
25:20
Speaker 5: putting our product on their platform, never once that we
25:23
Speaker 5: have talked or seen or been associated with anything to
25:26
Speaker 5: do with the physicians. I mean, they've they've kept that
25:29
Speaker 5: firewall very clear, very solid, and you know to me
25:33
Speaker 5: that that brings credibility because we are in no way
25:36
Speaker 5: as a manufacturer, have access to influence these physicians that
25:41
Speaker 5: they're in their physician network. As one point. But Dan,
25:44
Speaker 5: you know, I think that's a question that a lot
25:46
Speaker 5: of people do have and I wanted to give you
25:48
Speaker 5: the opportunity to kind to address that given that you
25:50
Speaker 5: guys are you know, in the center of the bulls
25:53
Speaker 5: eye of telehealth.
25:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.
25:55
Speaker 7: Great, And you know, there was a setting inquiry probably
25:58
Speaker 7: eighteen months ago that came out. There was i'll say
26:00
Speaker 7: misconceptions on the process, assumptions made that the how prescriptions
26:06
Speaker 7: were issued and what that that interaction looked like. And
26:11
Speaker 7: the physicians, to your point, and firewalls are in place,
26:13
Speaker 7: the physicians are you know, have freedom of choice to.
26:17
Speaker 6: Prescribe what they deem is appropriate.
26:20
Speaker 7: Physicians are competent look on our platform, or compensate the.
26:23
Speaker 6: Same regardless of an outcome we say for a visit.
26:26
Speaker 7: So every time a patient and a position meet, that
26:29
Speaker 7: position is compensated the same way. So there's no incentive
26:34
Speaker 7: to issue a prescription or issue a certain prescription.
26:37
Speaker 5: Right, I mean, do you guys track that by chance
26:41
Speaker 5: as a curiosity question? So if you've got one hundred
26:44
Speaker 5: patients that come into the platform, you know, is there
26:46
Speaker 5: any trending that you have between either one a patient
26:50
Speaker 5: filling with the prescription that maybe that patient was seeking,
26:54
Speaker 5: or how many precisions would not prescribe or they would
26:59
Speaker 5: actually recommend something different?
27:00
Speaker 7: One we have data on, you know, was a prescription issue,
27:05
Speaker 7: was a prescription for the for the medication the patient
27:09
Speaker 7: was requesting, or was it an alternative RX? Because your
27:13
Speaker 7: point earlier, most of the patients, a lot of these
27:16
Speaker 7: platforms are built around the patient is looking for specific treatment. Right,
27:20
Speaker 7: They've been like in your case, right, I've got some pain.
27:23
Speaker 7: Look I see this this patch, You know I want
27:26
Speaker 7: to this is what I'm interested in. That position meeting
27:30
Speaker 7: interaction is to determine whether.
27:32
Speaker 6: It's medically appropriate or not.
27:33
Speaker 7: So if it's medically appropriate by all means, the position
27:37
Speaker 7: it's most likely going to prescribe what that patient is requesting,
27:40
Speaker 7: and if it's not medically appropriate by all means, we
27:43
Speaker 7: hope the patient can still be treated.
27:45
Speaker 6: By the position.
27:46
Speaker 5: And then that's a good point Todd. I think this
27:48
Speaker 5: is important because I actually agree with you. We have
27:51
Speaker 5: to understand we are so caught up sometimes with looking
27:54
Speaker 5: at the black and white that we forget to look
27:56
Speaker 5: at the gray. And the last time I checked, the
27:58
Speaker 5: world has a lot of gray in it. Okay, a
28:00
Speaker 5: lot of good And that's my photography play for the
28:03
Speaker 5: day as a photographer. But my point being is this
28:07
Speaker 5: is that the scrutiny for physicians that patient goes in
28:11
Speaker 5: to see in their office and comes in an ask
28:13
Speaker 5: for a product that they just saw on TV all
28:15
Speaker 5: weekend long. There's no difference than if a patient has
28:19
Speaker 5: seen something or research something and is using the telemessine
28:23
Speaker 5: platform in the same context. Now, if a patient comes
28:26
Speaker 5: into a position's office and complaining about something and they
28:32
Speaker 5: don't know exactly what it is, then the doctor's going
28:34
Speaker 5: to assess and they're going to be able to, you know,
28:38
Speaker 5: without question, decide what is the best course of treatment
28:42
Speaker 5: and regimen. But the fact of the matter is telehealth
28:45
Speaker 5: is really not that different than probably traditional health now
28:47
Speaker 5: because I don't know what the number is, but I
28:49
Speaker 5: won't say, like sixty percent of all television advertising now,
28:52
Speaker 5: at least on the weekend is drug. So you're telling
28:54
Speaker 5: me that that patient's not going in. So that we
29:00
Speaker 5: as manufacturers and as telehealth service providers, there should always
29:05
Speaker 5: be scrutiny. Absolutely, we don't want to do anything that's
29:08
Speaker 5: ever inappropriate, and we should never influence a doctor. And
29:11
Speaker 5: I think that's one of the areas in the industry
29:13
Speaker 5: that has actually come a long way in terms of
29:16
Speaker 5: controlling any potential influence on physicians. I mean, when I
29:19
Speaker 5: started this in industry, we could take doctors on vacations,
29:22
Speaker 5: and now in this industry, we can't hand.
29:26
Speaker 4: Out a pen. And I think that's good. I'm happy
29:29
Speaker 4: about that.
29:29
Speaker 5: As a manufacturer and a marketer, I think we're taking
29:33
Speaker 5: away some of those things, and we're trying to ensure
29:36
Speaker 5: that products are being promoted on its merit, its features
29:39
Speaker 5: and benefits, and that the healthcare provider does have the
29:43
Speaker 5: influence and ability to do it. But the fact is,
29:46
Speaker 5: I don't know if Dan, you know this, I don't.
29:48
Speaker 5: I think we've talked about but there's only two countries
29:53
Speaker 5: in the world that still allow for consumer advertising. That's
29:58
Speaker 5: New Zealand and it stays of America everywhere else it's not.
30:02
Speaker 6: The other one.
30:03
Speaker 5: But yeah, so so the point is is that again
30:07
Speaker 5: this is I'm not a popular guy when I say this,
30:09
Speaker 5: but I will say maybe I can get away with
30:11
Speaker 5: it cause I'm on the generic side, not the brand side.
30:14
Speaker 5: But the point is is that and then not to
30:16
Speaker 5: say there's not some good that comes out of it,
30:18
Speaker 5: because there is. There can be some awareness, but you can't.
30:21
Speaker 5: You can't pick on one and and and let go
30:24
Speaker 5: of the other because the influence is about the same.
30:26
Speaker 5: If if I if I saw seven you know, TV commercials,
30:31
Speaker 5: and I go into my doctor say I want this
30:33
Speaker 5: drug because this is this, then the drug the physicians
30:36
Speaker 5: and in theory in the same position. If somebody thinks
30:38
Speaker 5: that they're coming out of telehealth and the doctor's being
30:40
Speaker 5: put in the same position.
30:41
Speaker 4: So, uh, Dan, I think.
30:43
Speaker 5: That that's that's a really really important way you said
30:46
Speaker 5: to understand that everything should be scrutinized. Everybody's thinks, but
30:50
Speaker 5: we need to put a practical lens over this and
30:52
Speaker 5: understand why there might be a little bit of a
30:55
Speaker 5: different engagement between a patient and physician on a telehealth
30:58
Speaker 5: platform because they're going there for that reason, uh, for
31:02
Speaker 5: that purpose, for that indication, you know. And maybe the
31:06
Speaker 5: challenges is because telehealth was traditionally, to Dan's point, more
31:10
Speaker 5: lifestyle beginning, and that was okay. Not now we're getting
31:15
Speaker 5: evolving and we're getting into chronic treatment management. As Dan said,
31:19
Speaker 5: that should take more scrutiny. I think it should, and
31:21
Speaker 5: that's great. So maybe the other question Dan, and I
31:25
Speaker 5: don't know this, so I'm asking a naive question on
31:28
Speaker 5: my side, is that you've built this physician platform to
31:32
Speaker 5: support the telehealth how do you go about evaluating doctors
31:39
Speaker 5: to to to be qualified. Did do you do anything
31:42
Speaker 5: that qualifies them or certifies them or they do they
31:46
Speaker 5: have certain things that requirements they must meet in order
31:49
Speaker 5: for them to be a part of your physician network.
31:53
Speaker 7: Yeah, anytime we bring on a new a new position,
31:57
Speaker 7: there's a whole credentialing process that goes on. We have
32:01
Speaker 7: our medical team reviews all the licenses. Right these days,
32:06
Speaker 7: most physicians say they're working in tell mes may at
32:08
Speaker 7: twenty state licenses, right, So it's it's doing background checks
32:11
Speaker 7: before before they're brought onto the upscript platform. Background checks,
32:15
Speaker 7: checking license, make sure there's nothing you know, in the
32:19
Speaker 7: in the history of their practice that might be deemed controversial.
32:23
Speaker 7: And then these these physicians are onboard onto first onto
32:27
Speaker 7: the upscript platform, so they don't understand how to use
32:30
Speaker 7: the proprietary e m rs and process. And then every
32:33
Speaker 7: time we bring on a new program, it's presented to
32:36
Speaker 7: our position network, and that position network let's say, raise
32:39
Speaker 7: their hand going hey, I'm interested, I want to be
32:41
Speaker 7: part of that, and then those physicians are trained on
32:44
Speaker 7: that that treatment and that therapy area.
32:47
Speaker 6: So and then we have regularly.
32:49
Speaker 5: Quarterly not every physician that's into your platform will be
32:53
Speaker 5: able to take a telehealth call depending on what they
33:00
Speaker 5: are either certified for a trand so that brings us
33:03
Speaker 5: a greater level of rigor that I wasn't aware of.
33:05
Speaker 7: That's correct, yeah, correct, yeah, So those physicians, Yeah, it's
33:09
Speaker 7: presented so that they volunteer for, you know, programs that
33:12
Speaker 7: have experience in programs are interested in, and then they're
33:16
Speaker 7: part of that network because that doesn't take it doesn't
33:19
Speaker 7: take fifty you can cover the country right where you
33:21
Speaker 7: don't need fifty positions to cover fifty states.
33:24
Speaker 5: Now, so well, i'll tell you just deduce quick sidebar.
33:28
Speaker 5: I think that's why this executive does has power this
33:33
Speaker 5: podcast because we are talking about a lot of ideas
33:37
Speaker 5: and a lot of concepts not only specific for pharmacy,
33:40
Speaker 5: but better. And I hope that at the end of
33:42
Speaker 5: the day, people that are listening are saying, hey, I
33:44
Speaker 5: didn't think about that, or that was a good question,
33:46
Speaker 5: that was a great answer, More great answers from Dan
33:49
Speaker 5: than questions for me, obviously.
33:50
Speaker 6: But I disagree for hours.
33:54
Speaker 5: I think yeah, And that's the real power of the podcast.
33:57
Speaker 5: And that's that's something that has really really been impressed
34:01
Speaker 5: upon me in the last twenty four months because prior
34:04
Speaker 5: to starting into this on a company basis, I had
34:07
Speaker 5: never listened to a podcast, and now I did listen
34:10
Speaker 5: to podcasts. Well, I do have a long drive to
34:12
Speaker 5: New Jersey, so I listen to podcasts now. So as
34:16
Speaker 5: we start to wind things down, let's let's think about tomorrow.
34:22
Speaker 5: And we talked about a little bit then in terms
34:24
Speaker 5: of some of the service options that will continue to evolve.
34:30
Speaker 5: Where where do you want to see, uh, you know,
34:32
Speaker 5: upscripts go to Taeilhealth platform go in the next five years.
34:37
Speaker 7: So as I kind of referred to earlier, it's really
34:40
Speaker 7: expanding into into more areas and learning.
34:43
Speaker 6: Look, I learned every few months what we can do here.
34:46
Speaker 7: So it's really been able to expand into into these
34:50
Speaker 7: rare diseases and into much more complicated therapy areiods where
34:55
Speaker 7: patients have more trouble.
34:56
Speaker 6: Getting access I mean the specialist.
34:59
Speaker 7: Like as we we're starting to getting these rare diseases,
35:01
Speaker 7: these these patients are you know, misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, or if
35:07
Speaker 7: they're diagnosed, they can't get into see a specialist for
35:09
Speaker 7: six months, right, and these can be some real serious,
35:12
Speaker 7: rare diseases.
35:13
Speaker 6: So just to really to be able.
35:14
Speaker 7: To expand from from our standpoint, expanded it in different
35:19
Speaker 7: therapy areas.
35:20
Speaker 6: And it's sciting to see that it's and you refer to.
35:24
Speaker 7: A little earlier, it's really going to be I believe
35:26
Speaker 7: part of Pharma's launches with a majority of brands, there's
35:30
Speaker 7: gonna be some telemedicine. We looked ten years down the road,
35:33
Speaker 7: however long it's going to be. There's gonna be some
35:35
Speaker 7: telemedicine component to to every program launch, every brand launch.
35:40
Speaker 5: Wow, you know what, I couldn't agree with you more
35:44
Speaker 5: on the rare and orphan disease. You know, it didn't
35:48
Speaker 5: even strike me until he said that how powerful telehealth
35:51
Speaker 5: could be in that area. These are patients and parents
35:55
Speaker 5: that you know struggle to find care because they are
35:59
Speaker 5: such different called. There's a few experts. If telehealth platform
36:03
Speaker 5: could really create that conduit, that pathway to those experts
36:08
Speaker 5: and help those patients earlier, that would be a pretty
36:12
Speaker 5: powerful positive outcome for what telehealth could be. So you know,
36:16
Speaker 5: look at Dan, I can't I can't thank you enough
36:19
Speaker 5: for for participating today. We are thrilled that we have
36:24
Speaker 5: launched an opportunity on your platform. In our case is
36:28
Speaker 5: a pretty simple one. We have using the platform to
36:32
Speaker 5: give patients another point of access and have that point
36:36
Speaker 5: of access also be cash driven. And for products that
36:39
Speaker 5: we do have on the upscript platform being more acute
36:42
Speaker 5: in nature, that also is important. So continue to evaluate
36:47
Speaker 5: them the pathways that really help either rare an orphan
36:52
Speaker 5: disease population or chronic versus acute. These are things that
36:57
Speaker 5: you know, we'll continue to learn through the success and failures. Hey, Dan,
37:02
Speaker 5: maybe one last question now? He said it if you
37:04
Speaker 5: think about as you said, and we were talking about
37:07
Speaker 5: it beingcoming a formal part of the decision making process
37:10
Speaker 5: when launching the products. If you look, you said, you've
37:12
Speaker 5: had over seventy product specific ones. If you take just
37:16
Speaker 5: the last ten, were these were these product launches or
37:21
Speaker 5: were these products that were adding on telehealth platform? I'd
37:25
Speaker 5: be curious as a quick test, have the last ten
37:28
Speaker 5: he did, how many were product launches versus just adding
37:31
Speaker 5: to their marketing program through their lifnse.
37:35
Speaker 7: If I look at the and I've got my cheap
37:37
Speaker 7: board ahead of me, as I track them all, it's
37:40
Speaker 7: almost exactly half.
37:42
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, well there you go. The data doesn't lie.
37:46
Speaker 5: So here's an example of half the new platforms they've
37:50
Speaker 5: launched for products were new product launches versus expanding on
37:55
Speaker 5: their marketing and sales opportunities or patient or we'll say, uh,
38:01
Speaker 5: direct to patient programming. So that that's awesome. Any final words, Dan,
38:06
Speaker 5: anything you want to say on behalf of upscripts or
38:09
Speaker 5: patients or telehealth or Todd do you want to torture him.
38:13
Speaker 4: With a better question. We'll kind of wrap up here
38:16
Speaker 4: on that. So, Dan, anything you want to kind.
38:19
Speaker 7: Of close, No, just thanks, thanks for having me. If
38:21
Speaker 7: anyone's interested and continuing, you know, has any products you
38:25
Speaker 7: know you want to increase access to care. You know,
38:27
Speaker 7: we're here, We're with i'll say, the leader in the space,
38:31
Speaker 7: you know, from from a compliance standpoint, from a history standpoint.
38:35
Speaker 6: So but yeah, it's great. It's exciting to see where
38:38
Speaker 6: everything's going.
38:39
Speaker 7: Appreciate the time and really looking forward to our partnership
38:43
Speaker 7: and to continuing to see expansion of telemas and throughout
38:47
Speaker 7: the throughout the industry.
38:49
Speaker 4: Well, it was a pleasure. Todd. Anything you want to
38:52
Speaker 4: close on my friend, No.
38:54
Speaker 2: I'm excited about this. For the listeners, if you weren't
38:57
Speaker 2: watching us on YouTube or some of the the visuals
39:01
Speaker 2: that we're seeing out there on Instagram, go to upscript
39:04
Speaker 2: dot com once again, that's upscript dot com to learn
39:08
Speaker 2: more and reach out to Pharmacy Podcast Network for ideas.
39:12
Speaker 2: Because Dan, we have to have you back. I want
39:14
Speaker 2: to talk to you about the search engine impact of
39:17
Speaker 2: healthcare and choosing products and how Tellahealth will now become
39:21
Speaker 2: a huge part of that search. So promise us that
39:25
Speaker 2: you're going to come back.
39:27
Speaker 4: All right.
39:28
Speaker 5: Well, with that, I think we'll bring this to a close.
39:30
Speaker 5: And I think this has been another exciting chapter in
39:35
Speaker 5: the Executive Dose podcasts.
39:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were listening to the Executive Dose Podcasts with
39:40
Speaker 2: our host Steven Beckman. And share this podcast, share it
39:44
Speaker 2: with somebody that you work with in pharmacy and help
39:49
Speaker 2: us get this messaging out to more pharmacist decision makers
39:53
Speaker 2: and pharmacy decision makers and operators. And we thank you
39:56
Speaker 2: for listening to the Pharmacy podcast