The 20th installment of Trade & Channel Strategies carried on with a focus on boosting access to medication.

In a session titled “From Tradition to Transformation—Evolution of Channel Strategies to Improve Patient Access,” Tom Doyle, Cencora’s head of US commercialization, was joined by Chara Reid, senior director of strategic initiatives, immunology, Cencora, along with Benjamin Dean, head of business development with FuzeRx, to tackle multiple goals, including:

• Examining adaptable commercialization strategies that span traditional, limited-distribution, and direct-to-patient (DTP) channels to meet diverse portfolio demands and evolving patient expectations.
• Uncovering new ways to connect global brand vision with on-the-ground channel execution, while staying ahead of regulatory changes and shifting product landscapes.
• Seeing how digital-first pharmacy models can grow patient access, strengthen medication adherence, and position brands for long-term success in a rapidly transforming healthcare environment.

Understanding the “swirl” of modern healthcare distribution

Doyle noted the importance of first pointing out what he refers to as the “swirl” of healthcare distribution, consisting of the Inflation Reduction Act; traditional retail & SPP; DTP; direct to employer; digital pharmacy/hybrid models; specialty distribution; direct to site of care; and exclusive rare (cell & gene).

Considering the WAC price of the 33 FDA-approved therapies this year, only 18% of products are meeting the $1-$2,000 monthly price range, meaning that the remaining 82% of products are at $2,000 or above.

“I recognize transportation impacts a lot of the market products,” he explained. “Think about the future. We got to keep our eye on what's happening. We have more complex therapies coming at a very high price point. We have to work together.”

Working together in the modern biotech age involves being aware of the evolving market, which is requiring us to move as fast as one of his hobbies—IndyCars. In fact, biotech and IndyCars share surprising parallels in terms of dedication, vertical integration, and managing through adversity.

Why collaboration between pharma, providers, and GPOs still determines success

Knowing that Reid having been on both sides as practicing clinician and manufacturer advisor, Doyle wanted to take a deep dive into what mattered most to her when she was making decisions for her own patients. This also includes added perspective: since she now advises manufacturers, how is she translating that provider mindset back to them?

“Coming from practice and really having to run one of the largest physician-owned medical groups in Illinois, what’s really important is the partnership between what we do every day in practice,” she said. “I had 1,200 physicians that were sending their orders into our infusion centers and our specialty pharmacy, and as a director or manager of pharmacy services, there's so many things that have to be coordinated, and the thing that truly made the difference in my day-to-day—that actually made my life bearable—was the partnerships that I had created and really built with pharma, and most importantly, the partnership that I had with my wholesaler GPO.

“I work for Cencora, so I'm a little biased, but I will tell you that I've worked with multiple manufacturers and multiple GPOs, and those relationships were crucial to what we had to do every day. We were not a 340B practice. We were physician-owned, so everything we did every day had to keep the lights on. Now, being on the other side, I get to engage with pharma a little bit differently, having run GPO sales at Cencora, and truly having access to that C-suite level of key opinion leaders, working with them over the past several years. It’s been a really fun job for me lately, but it comes down to the collaboration.”

Helping first-time launchers navigate a complex market

Of course, there continues to be a high number of first-time launchers—including a combination of mid-size and large pharma—with much of the pipeline being in oncology. Therein lies a challenge. How can industry, as a community, work with some of the smaller players to help them efficiently get those products to market?

To Reid, it comes down to knowing what providers want and need—what is going to get them at the end of the day to write that prescription and make sure the patient gets on therapy? This is where market access comes in. It involves understanding that patients sit in all different arenas, not just in the cancer center with specialty pharmacy. They may be with a provider who doesn't have an infusion center, who doesn't have a specialty pharmacy in-house.

A case study in digital-first access

One case study shared by the participants revolved around aiming to overcome a manual program with Rx and medical benefit that was seeking a digital-first solution. The solution? A Cencora-Fuze Health partnership that created a digital-first ecosystem for Rx and medical benefit products. As a result, there was 50% eRx engagement and 91% fully automated BVs.

According to Dean, it’s important to note that DTP models like these are not silver bullets for all assets. However, FuzeRx’s virtual pharmacy provides an all-in-one platform that unites hub services and dispensing, while customizing everything to one’s needs.

“It’s going to make sense for a certain class of drugs, but we're seeing a lot of momentum. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. The government is now heavily incentivizing manufacturers of all types to consider these models. And I think what we're trying to do with Fuze is enable manufacturers to derive real value from these models, as opposed to just doing them and putting them on a piece of paper, but I think there is value that's accessible here. You just need to know how to price the asset without cannibalizing the rest of the market, and then how to properly bring it to market, while meeting, crucially, the consumer standards that are ultimately going to determine success within the space.”

Reference

Doyle T, Reid C, Dean B. From Tradition to Transformation—Evolution of Channel Strategies to Improve Patient Access. December 9, 2025. Trade & Channel Strategies, Philadelphia. https://informaconnect.com/trade-channel/