Side Affects Episode 144 | A New Era of Pharmacy Solutions: Trends, Tech & GLP-1s

April 6, 2025·36 min·2 clips

GLP-1s started as diabetes drugs, then weight loss and other possible indications changed the market.

1. McGohan Brabender Side Affects centers this episode on pharmacy solutions, GLP-1 medications, and international prescription access. 2. Kenzie McEvely hosts with Dave Holman, while Dr. Jeff Eicholz appears as MB’s VP of Pharmacy Solutions and a pharmacist with 25+ years of experience. 3. The episode asks how employers, patients, and pharmacy teams can handle rising drug costs without losing clinical value. 4. Jeff says the pharmacy benefit space is complex because specialty medications, biosimilars, and gray-area sourcing all affect cost management. 5. He says the basic healthcare problem is that “the utilizer of healthcare is not the payer,” which makes affordability hard to solve. 6. Jeff says employers and insurers are trying to manage risk while patients want care that is personal and providers want less insurance friction. 7. He says the United States does not get the same value for healthcare dollars as other countries, and names adherence, misprescribing, and payment design as part of the gap. 8. The conversation turns to pharmacists becoming more patient-centric, which Jeff links to training, COVID-19 vaccine access, and broader reimbursement for counseling and disease-state management. 9. Kenzie describes a 45-minute CVS line, and Jeff says retail pharmacy staffing and technician shortages make that experience common. 10. Jeff says central fill models and shipping to stores are part of the operational response to workload pressure. 11. He explains that digital pharmacies are not all the same, because some mainly offer an app and easier refill ordering while others use transparent pricing models. 12. Jeff names Amazon, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, and PillPack as examples of digital pharmacy disruption. 13. On adherence, Jeff says there is no magic silver bullet and mentions apps, bottle caps, and even having a loved one remind you to take medicine. 14. He says adherence above 80% is considered good, even though that number sounds low at first. 15. Jeff uses asthma, cholesterol, heart attack, and stroke to show why some conditions provide a symptom-based reminder and others do not. 16. The GLP-1 segment explains that these drugs began as type 2 diabetes treatments, then gained attention because of weight loss and potential additional indications. 17. Jeff says employers first have to decide whether they cover weight-loss medications, then decide how to use prior authorization for diabetic GLP-1s. 18. He warns that international drug savings can look like 50% to 60% on ingredient cost, but the real employer savings may be closer to 25% to 30% after rebates and member cost share. 19. The tone is conversational and practical, with Kenzie and Dave asking repeated follow-ups and Jeff answering in a teaching style. 20. Listeners interested in pharmacy benefits and employer health plans will get the most from it, while anyone avoiding benefit-design and compliance detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical pharmacy conversation that turns benefits jargon into something listeners can actually use.

Dr. Jeff Eicholz treats pharmacy solutions as a systems issue, and the conversation stays with that frame from start to finish. It moves from GLP-1 medications to a more patient-centered pharmacy landscape, then into the complications of international prescription access, using…

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Why you'd press play

You want the GLP-1 and pharmacy trendline without the trade-show fog.

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