By Meghan Ziobro, Vice President, Healthcare Product, Product Growth:
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, we can’t let it pass without recognizing the part specialty pharmacies play in caring for women battling this disease. Specialty drugs have become essential in fighting breast cancer, offering hope and life-saving treatments to women across the country.
However, while these advanced therapies are proving their worth, we must ensure that pharmacies are able to continue providing this care. Dispensing specialty drugs requires more than just filling prescriptions. It demands expert counseling, patient monitoring, and navigating complex insurance requirements — all services that pharmacies must be compensated for. Without appropriate reimbursement, it becomes increasingly difficult for pharmacies to deliver these essential services to women who desperately need them.
Even with access to these breakthrough drugs, many women face the overwhelming challenge of affording them. The high cost, combined with insurance hurdles, can discourage patients from filling their prescriptions or staying on their treatment plans. Specialty pharmacies are on the front lines of helping women overcome these barriers, but the system needs to be streamlined to make it easier for patients to get the treatments they need.
We need to make saving lives easier, not harder. It’s time to reduce the red tape and costs that keep these life-saving drugs out of reach for too many women. Let’s ensure that specialty pharmacies are equipped to continue providing high-quality care, and that women have access to the treatments that are helping save lives every day.