SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MedImpact, announced today the launch of a first-of-its-kind pharmacogenomics solution that systematically reviews every prescribed drug for a patient against a patient’s genetic profile. This highly personalized approach protects patients against hundreds of ineffective and harmful drugs based on their genetic profile. It will reduce “trial and error” prescribing, reduce waste, lower the risk of adverse events, and improve member health.
“The PBM industry has traditionally approached healthcare in terms of ‘populations,’” said Karen Geary, MedImpact Vice President of Strategy and Innovation. “We now can deliver pharmacy benefits that are personalized down to the formulary.”
Pharmacogenomics, or PGx, is the study of how a person’s genetics affects his or her response to a drug. An individual’s genetic makeup can determine how effective a medication (e.g. antidepressants) will be, requiring changes to dosing or different medications altogether. It can also determine the risk of adverse reactions, such as stroke, arrythmia, and cardiomyopathy, among others.
Although medical science has long understood the links between genes and drugs, the healthcare industry has struggled to use this information to deliver actionable results to prescribers. MedImpact has overcome this challenge to deliver a personalized solution with the ability to make PGx a seamless part of every health plan’s prescription benefits program.
MedImpact’s vision and approach are radically different than other PGx solutions attempted by PBMs. Today, most PGx programs test to determine how an individual will respond to a single therapy prescribed by a single provider for one point in time. MedImpact screens for genetic interactions with more than 240 commonly prescribed medications. The company reviews claims history and notifies every provider who has prescribed medications for that patient when a potential genetic-drug interactions exists. In the future, the safety and effectiveness of every medication prescribed is then reviewed as claims are processed, and the pharmacist and patient are alerted to potential interactions.
Throughout the member’s enrollment in the MedImpact pharmacy benefit, if he or she attempts to have a prescription filled for any drug that is likely to be impacted by his or her genetic makeup, the prescriber is alerted, adverse events are avoided, and safer, more effective alternatives can be filled. MedImpact is the first PBM in the country to alert prescribers based on a member’s genetic profile, and its proactive “any drug, any time, any prescriber” approach to PGx is the first-of-its-kind for a PBM.
MedImpact has launched this program after conducting a successful year-long pilot during which 65% of prescribers who were notified of a drug-gene issue decided to make an adjustment to the dosage or change to a different drug. As a result, prescribing of medications that align with the member’s genetics improved by 12% for members in the pilot.
“The challenges of controlling rising drug costs, improving health, and delivering a better member experience are becoming more urgent, and these challenges aren’t going to be solved by traditional PBM thinking,” said Dale Brown, President, MedImpact Healthcare Systems. “We believe that highly personalized, clinically driven, and technology-enabled solutions are the future of healthcare, and our unique pharmacogenomics solution is just one example of how we are proactively delivering that future for our clients.”
About MedImpact
MedImpact is the PBM that puts clients and consumers first. For 30 years, it has had a single mission: To make pharmacy benefits affordable, understandable, and transparent. Today, MedImpact’s team and technology serve many large employers and plans, and more than 55 million consumers in the US and around the world. Learn more at pbm.medimpact.com or follow us on Twitter @MedImpact.