Specialty pharmacy: an emerging area of interest for medical management.

Specialty pharmaceuticals are expensive injectable and infusion therapies used to treat patients with chronic or life-threatening diseases. The high cost of these agents and their frequent usage in chronic diseases represent not only challenges, but also opportunities for medical management programs to improve the quality of care and moderate the rapid cost escalation seen in the industry. The number and variety of these agents have been increasing significantly, with hundreds of drug candidates in the development pipeline. The specialty pharmacy industry also is going through a consolidation stage, both horizontally and vertically. Industry approaches to medical management include the acquisition of specialty pharmacy companies, restrictive contracting to achieve concentrated buying power, and the development of utilization management strategies.