President Trump has been demanding pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices, and some of those companies are doing so by cutting out pharmacies.
The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is one of several companies that will now sell their drugs directly to patients. With that lack of pharmacy involvement, it worries Arkansas pharmacists like Anne Pace, the owner of Kavanaugh Pharmacy in Little Rock.
“There’s going to be no pharmacist-patient interaction, and that’s an incredibly important part of our healthcare and delivery system.”
“I want to know what drugs my patients are taking. I want to be able to look at a profile of every medication my patients are taking to make sure there aren’t problems with that,” Pace adds.
AstraZeneca says it plans to launch AstraZeneca Direct, which they say will allow patients to access prescribed medications like Airsupra for asthma and Farxiga for diabetes. These medications can be purchased for a cash price up to 70% off the list price.
John Vinson, a pharmacist and the CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacist Association, sees the price reduction as promising.
“I think it’s great that they’re cutting the cost and they’re providing that in a cash-based way that’s more affordable for patients.”
However, Arkansas pharmacists don’t understand why companies are bypassing local pharmacies.
“If that is the price, why are they not providing that price and that service to UAMS, to CARTI…and other local pharmacies,” questions Vinson.
“So why do we need to have AstraZeneca and other drug manufacturers selling direct to patients when they could sell them to their local pharmacies for the exact same price for what they’re saying they want to do direct to consumers,” asks Pace.
Pace believes that a mail-order pharmacy from these manufacturers does not replace the important interactions pharmacists have with their patients.
“Is the pharmacist going to know what medications patients are getting direct from the manufacturer? No. Who’s going to talk to them about their side effects if they’re interacting with other medications. Who’s going to answer questions that they have on Friday night at 6:00 about ‘what do they do?”‘
Vinson says that the mail-order pharmacy AstraZeneca will use to deliver medications to patients is based out of Florida, which he said would force patients in other states, such as Arkansas, to leave their trusted local providers.
AstraZeneca Direct will go online on Wednesday.
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