New Drug Channels Institute Study: How Expensive Specialty Drugs Are Driving Record Wholesaler Revenues

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Today Drug Channels Institute, a leading management educator for and about the pharmaceutical industry, released its exclusive, in-depth analysis of the highly dynamic prescription drug distribution industry. "For the first time, U.S. drug distribution revenues at the Big Three public wholesalers—AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson—exceeded $300 billion," said Drug Channels Institute CEO Adam J. Fein, Ph.D., the study's author and a widely regarded expert on pharmacy economics and the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Drug Channels Institute's new 2015–16 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors reveals how wholesalers and distributors are profiting from expensive specialty medications. "New hepatitis C therapies and other specialty drugs are boosting wholesalers' revenues but challenging their profits," Fein adds. "Payers and pharmacy benefit managers are shifting specialty products into the largest, payer-owned specialty pharmacies, which offer smaller margins for wholesalers."

These findings are among the many insights and trends in the sixth edition of this widely respected report. With 82 proprietary charts, exhibits, and data tables, it offers the only complete examination of the pharmaceutical distribution industry's economics, market structure, growth rates, forces of change, and interactions with the U.S. healthcare system.

"Wholesalers are deepening their relationships with such large drugstore chains as CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Rite Aid," Fein says. "Consequently, wholesalers have become virtually impossible to displace for some pharmaceutical products."

The report also analyzes the crucial healthcare trends that will affect wholesalers and distributors. It explores such factors as healthcare reform, biosimilars, the controversial 340B drug pricing program, pharmacy consolidation, manufacturers' channel strategies, and more.

To purchase and immediately download the new report, visit http://drugchannelsinstitute.com/products/industry_report/wholesale/.

About Drug Channels Institute

Drug Channels Institute, a division of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., is a leading provider of specialized management education and e-learning for and about the pharmaceutical industry. To learn more about its products, visit http://www.drugchannelsinstitute.com/. To access Dr. Fein's popular Drug Channels blog, visit http://www.drugchannels.net.

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