The Progress and Future of the Specialty Medication Movement

By Ellen Scharaga

Introduction

Ellen Scharaga of Melville, NY, currently serves as an operational consultant at Alegria Specialty Pharmacy, which provides both typical medications and customized therapeutic medications. In this role, Ellen Scharaga is responsible for developing and delivering new specialty medications for such conditions as hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis.

Specialty medications have been treating various conditions since the early 1970s; however, they did not come to market until the end of the 1990s. Since then, specialty medication has grown in use and popularity, and by the fall of 2014, a major specialty drug that cost around $80,000 per treatment was launched.

Specialty Medication Movement

During this time more and more specialty drugs were quickly becoming available, and consumers knew much more about the various treatments than in previous years.

The movement is expected to continue gaining momentum, and by 2018, it is expected that overall spending on specialty drugs will surpass spending for small molecule drugs. This change will affect what conditions are treated by specialty medication, along with the cost of the treatment. Professionals expect the number of conditions treated by specialty medication to increase, while cost is expected to decrease. However, they believe that high-cost specialty medications will still be around.