Patrick P Gleason, G Caleb Alexander, Catherine I Starner, Stephen T Ritter, Holly K Van Houten, Brent W Gunderson, Nilay D Shah
BACKGROUND: Drugs are most typically defined as specialty because they are expensive; however, other criteria used to define a drug as specialty include biologic drugs, the need to inject or infuse the drug, the requirement for special handling, or drug availability only via a limited distribution network. Specialty drugs play an increasingly important role in the treatment of chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), yet little is known regarding the comprehensive medical and pharmacy benefit utilization and cost trends for these conditions...
September 2013: Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy: JMCP