by Leslie Small
While the cost-saving potential of biosimilars was an overarching theme as the major PBMs’ parent companies
discussed second-quarter 2021 earnings, “specialty” was the buzzword during the
most recent round of conference calls regarding fourth-quarter and full-year
2021 financial results.
Firms tout specialty opportunities
- “We’ve seen growth in specialty from a few things:
First of all, it’s been rate of capture,” said Heather Cianfrocco, CEO of
UnitedHealth Group-owned PBM OptumRx, during a Jan. 19 call with analysts. “Second, we’ve seen
growth with our PBM clients, which, of course, drives growth when they use
our specialty service.”
- “I think the other really exciting part about our
specialty business is that in ’22, we’re going to see a robust pipeline of
generic specialty coming to market, mostly in the oncology space.”
Cianfrocco said.
- During Cigna Corp.’s Feb. 3 earnings call, CEO David Cordani also
emphasized specialty pharmacy opportunities.
- “We grew adjusted revenues by 14% in 2021 as
Evernorth’s corporate clients, health plans, governmental agencies, and
health care delivery system partners increasingly recognized the value of
our health services, including in our specialty pharmacy business,”
Cordani said.
- And CVS Health Corp., which owns the PBM Caremark, touted specialty pharmacy’s revenue contributions
during its Feb. 9 earnings call.
- “We are a leader in specialty pharmacy, delivering
revenue growth of 12.3% for the fourth quarter and 9.3% for the full year
versus [the] prior period,” CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said. “Our
specialty pharmacy programs drive value in the marketplace, and they
differentiate us as we pair programs with digital capabilities to deliver
a convenient and connected experience.”
Wall Street is mostly pleased with results
- In a Feb. 3 note to investors, SVB Leerink analyst Whit
Mayo noted that Cigna’s Evernorth division “reported strong top-line
growth beating our estimates by 6.1%, but slightly lower margins leading
to [adjusted earnings] slightly missing our estimates by
0.4%.”
- Barclays analyst Steve Valiquette advised investors on
Jan. 19 that OptumRx earnings, which grew 1% year over year and 2%
compared with Barclays estimates, “benefited from an impressive quarterly
script count” of 353 million.
- Valiquette also weighed in on CVS Health’s PBM
business, observing in a Feb. 9 note to investors that “revenues came in
mostly in line with [Wall] Street expectations at $39.3 [billion] vs. the
Street’s $39.4 [billion].” Earnings before interest and taxes for the
segment were “mostly in line as well,” reaching $1.824 billion compared
with the consensus estimate of $1.855 billion.
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