January 2007

Passing of a Friend to Hemophilia

Laurie Kelley January 29, 2007

It is with great regret that I announce the death of Randi Paltrow, 59, Director of National Relations at Patient Services, Inc. (PSI), last Saturday. As many of you may know, Randi was devoted to the hemophilia community. She served as executive director of the Northern Ohio Chapter before joining friend Dana Kuhn’s organization, PSI. She dedicated herself to the important issues of insurance reform, which is wreaking havoc for many families with bleeding disorders. Although I had known Randi for years, I really got to know her better just this past year, as we spent more time together at several functions. Randi, who is the aunt of actress Gywneth Paltrow, downplayed her celebrity status almost as well as she downplayed her cancer. She was energetic, bursting with ideas, and determined to not let her illness get her down. With her typical can-do attitude, she always made you believe that she would overcome any obstacle. I hope our community adopts that attitude as her legacy, as we say good-bye to a true friend.

Saving Lives

Laurie Kelley January 22, 2007

On January 11 I gave a presentation on our company and its humanitarian programs in developing countries to the employees and management of New England BioLabs, the oldest biotech company in the US, and where my husband Kevin is employed. The employees heard about our unique model that solicits and attracts factor that normally would be destroyed (from HTCs, homecare companies, patients and chapters) and ships it free of charge to the developing world. In 2006 we broke all records by shipping 9.7 million units (about $9 million worth of factor)!

We also presented our nonprofit Save One Life, which provides individual sponsorships for children with bleeding disorders in the developing world. We provided photos and talked about the ravages of untreated bleeds. NEB proved to be a gracious host and attentive audience, and quite a few employees asked to sponsor children. If you would like to learn more, visit www.saveonelife.net. We are helping to ease the suffering and save the lives of children who are often forgotten, neglected and in need of immediate help. Congratulations to NEB, a company with deep social conscience and compassion.

Book I am reading: “Take Yourself to the Top,” by Laura Fortrang. ****
I’ve read this gem twice before, but it’s always good at the beginning of the new year, to motivate, reassess and move forward with gusto.

Which Suitor is More Attractive?

Laurie Kelley January 15, 2007

Far more interesting than watching Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock or Britney Spears and what’s-his-name marry and divorce is the romance going on between PBMs and certain homecare companies. Express Scripts is one suitor that doesn’t give up easily. Last week I told you that Express Scripts made a hostile bid for Caremark; Caremark jilted it this past week. It prefers the attentions of CVS, which has also bid for its hand. Those of you who use Caremark for your homecare needs better pay attention; and those of you who don’t better pay attention. The marriage of any of these giants is going to continue to impact our community, directly and indirectly. Although allegedly all this wedded bliss is supposed to lower prices of drugs, it remains to be seen in the hemophilia bottom line. What it will do for certain is consolidate power— and squeeze out the market share of smaller homecare companies who are not owned by large specialty pharmacies or PBMs.

Caremark shareholder approval of CVS or Express Script (most analysts are betting on CVS) is the next thing to watch. Tune in—

Book I read this week: “Thunderstruck,” by Erik Larson. **** Four stars
Fascinating true account of a murder mystery in London that riveted the world, and the parallel invention and development of the wireless by Marconi— and how these two events eventually crossed paths with explosive and fateful consequences. Great reading!

Monstrous Acquisition of Factor Providers Looming

Laurie Kelley January 8, 2007

Happy new year! We’re off to an exciting but challenging start to this year in the bleeding disorder community. Witness what is happening right now, that should have you sitting bolt upright: a hostile takeover bid for Caremark. Do you use Caremark as your homecare company? Keep your eye on what is happening.

A year ago, my newsletter PEN predicted that specialty pharmacies would continue to merge as the home care industry faced unprecedented change while battling the “coming storm” in the insurance industry. Cost-cutting methods by payers are forcing the industry to rethink how it does business; and mergers provide ways to gain power, market share and possibly lower prices.

We’ve seen a tremendous number of mergers and acquisitions, but nothing on the scale of what is happening now. Express Scripts, one of the nation’s top pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), has launched a hostile bid for Caremark, one of the largest factor providers, and also a PBM. The surprise $26 billion bid came in December.

In “Taking Center Stage” (PEN, May 2005), PEN explained that PBMs are business middlemen hired by employers and insurers to negotiate better prices from drug manufacturers and retailers. They encourage employees to use lower-priced generic drugs and less expensive mail-order pharmacies. PBMs are hired to save employers money by managing healthcare contracts and costs. But in the current wave of mergers, PBMs are emerging with great power, and can exert strong influence over pricing, especially for biological products like factor.

The Los Angeles Times predicts that the Express Script/Caremark combined company will control about 30% of the total PBM market, with $49 billion a year in revenue. That’s compared to its next biggest rival, Medco (which owns Hemophilia Health Services), with $38 billion a year in revenue. The LA Times also notes that not everyone is confident that more consolidation is good. There’s no guarantee that this merger will eventually pass along savings to employers and employees, including those with hemophilia. It’s true that the merged company will be the most powerful in factor distribution. Smaller, independent factor providers–a traditional and important part of the bleeding disorders community–face troubled times ahead as they play David to the industries’ newly-created Goliaths.

For more information, see “Express Scripts tops CVS in hostile bid for Caremark Rx.” Daniel Costello, Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2006, and visit archived article at www.kelleycom.com/archives.html.

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