10 Key Themes Emerged from Asembia’s 2025 Summit
June 16, 2025
After attending the 2025 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit, the XiFin team left the event feeling energized, inspired, and more excited about the future of specialty pharmacy than ever. Now in its milestone 20th year, the event brought together more than 8,000 industry leaders as well as nationally known celebrities and key thought leaders, creating a broad spectrum of specialty pharmacy insights and inspiration. The event brought forth strategic conversations about the challenges and opportunities the healthcare industry faces, best practices that seem to be working, and innovative ideas to propel the future of specialty pharmacy forward.
ICYMI–Across the three days of Asembia 2025 sessions, several key themes emerged that reflect the challenges, innovations, and future directions shaping the industry. Here are the top 10 themes that the XiFin team noted:
1. Unrelenting Market Growth and the Expanding Role of Specialty Pharmacy
Volume-Driven Growth and Therapeutic Innovation
The U.S. prescription drug market, according to the IQVIA presentation, surged to $821 billion in 2025, up from $815 billion in 2024, marking a 10% annual growth rate that continues to accelerate—especially outside of traditional retail. Notably, 78% of this growth is attributed to volume increases, new product launches, and line extensions, rather than price inflation alone. This signals a healthcare system that is not only expanding in reach but also rapidly adopting novel therapies.
Specialty Pharmacy’s Expanding Share
Specialty pharmacy now accounts for 52% of total prescription spend, with 11.9% year-over-year growth, outpacing traditional dispensing channels. This growth is being fueled by therapeutic categories such as oncology, immunology, multiple sclerosis, and HIV, all of which dominate non-retail channels including hospitals, home health, and long-term care settings.
Top-performing drugs like Skyrizi, Dupixent, and Cabenuva continue to lead the specialty category, while newer entrants like PCSK9 inhibitors are beginning to reshape the treatment landscape for cardiovascular and metabolic conditions. Importantly, GLP-1 therapies, though not classified as a specialty pharmaceutical, have generated a parallel growth engine, further emphasizing the bifurcation and complexity in the modern pharmaceutical market.
The takeaway is clear: Specialty pharmacy is no longer a niche. It is now the center of gravity in a market where therapeutic innovation, patient complexity, and delivery channel diversification continue to redefine how care is delivered and reimbursed.
2. Specialty Pharmacy’s Community Integration and Evolving Role of Pharmacist
From Dispensing to Care Coordination
During several panel presentations, retail chains like Walmart, CVS, and Amazon showcased their expanding roles in delivering specialty care, especially in underserved areas. Pharmacists are being repositioned as frontline healthcare providers, involved in everything from testing and treatment to chronic care management and digital health engagement.
Technology has empowered pharmacists to do more with less, leveraging virtual counseling, test-and-treat services, and integrated health records. The pharmacist is increasingly central to care teams, especially in managing complex specialty medications and improving adherence through personalized, digitally enabled engagement.
3. AI, Precision Medicine, and the Digital Pharmacy of the Future
Tech Disruption Is Now Mainstream
Sessions focused heavily on how artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and digital therapeutics are revolutionizing pharmacy. AI is being used to summarize charts, assist with care management, and support personalized formularies. Companies like Aprecia are pioneering precision dosing using 3D printing, while others are exploring on-demand drug manufacturing, and even using avatars to streamline care.
The future envisions a shift from reactive care to proactive, tech-enabled systems—where pharmacists serve patients both in person and remotely with enhanced clinical decision support tools.
4. Boom and Bust Markets: GLP-1s and Beyond
GLP-1s Signal a Market Disruption, But Margins Lag
GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy have driven unprecedented growth—$8 billion in monthly sales—but pharmacies are often reimbursed below cost, leading to operating losses per prescription. Meanwhile, some older specialty drugs have seen demand evaporate by up to 96%.
There is a clear divide between therapies that deliver rapid ROI and others that cannot sustain viability under current pricing and reimbursement models. GLP-1s, despite massive demand, expose misaligned incentives within the supply chain.
5. Value-Based Care (VBC) and Specialty Pharmacy Collaboration
Aligning Outcomes, Incentives, and Data Sharing
Specialty drugs now dominate FDA approvals (80% in 2024), and cell and gene therapies are expected to reach $78 billion by 2028. These innovations demand new value-based contracting frameworks, yet challenges remain outcome attribution, inconsistent metrics, and limited data sharing capabilities.
Integrated delivery networks (IDNs), payors, and manufacturers all acknowledge that collaboration—and particularly the pharmacist’s involvement—is essential. Pharmacists can play a pivotal role in monitoring therapy outcomes, reducing costs, and enhancing adherence when properly incentivized and supported.
6. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA): Reshaping Benefit Design and Cost Burdens
Medicare Drug Negotiations and Cost Shifts
The IRA is accelerating cost restructuring in Medicare Part D, including a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries. This will allow patients to reach a catastrophic cost threshold faster so they will see more $0 claims. While this benefits patients, payors and manufacturers face rising financial pressure. Oncology drugs, for example, have seen year-over-year increases of 50% in Medicare Part D spending. Additionally, concerns were raised about reduced support programs and the “pill penalty,” which could impact innovation by compressing return-on-investment timelines for new therapies.
7. 340B Tug of War: A $43B Program Under Scrutiny
Misaligned Incentives and Legislative Crossfire
The explosive growth of the 340B drug pricing program to approximately $43 billion—making it larger than Medicaid’s prescription drug purchases—has prompted tension between pharmaceutical manufacturers, payors, and covered entities. Originally intended to aid the underserved, today’s 340B landscape includes nearly 30,000 contract pharmacies, with revenue generation often decoupled from direct patient care.
Debates around duplicate discounts, lack of transparency, and financial accountability are intensifying, with 18 states enacting protection laws while pharmaceutical companies push for more data-driven models. Lawsuits and regulatory battles underscore the urgent need for systemic reform.
8. Drug Shortages and Supply Chain Resilience
Manufacturing, Inspections, and Global Dependencies
The US continues to rely heavily on overseas manufacturing—94% of drugs and 97% of antibiotics are sourced abroad. Domestic re-shoring efforts are underway, spurred by $167 billion in manufacturing investment, yet drug shortages persist—often due to inspection lags or sudden demand spikes.
Pharmacy closures (nearly 5,800 since 2018) and staffing shortages exacerbate patient access issues, especially in “pharmacy deserts” affecting over 16 million Americans. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act and renewed FDA scrutiny are aimed at improving resilience.
9. Tectonic Shifts in PBM Models and Regulation
Vertical Integration and Regulation Pressure
One of the dominant discussions centered around the ongoing transformation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The historical rebate-driven model has given way to vertically integrated entities encompassing PBMs, specialty pharmacies, health plans, and group purchasing organizations (GPOs). This consolidation now funnels approximately 80% of prescription volume through just three PBMs, with a similar concentration among wholesalers.
Emerging legislative efforts—specifically bills like HR 2880 and HR 10362—aim to bring transparency and potential regulation to this space. Stakeholders expect these changes to materialize in the coming months, with ramifications for biosimilar access and drug pricing structures.
10. The Future of Specialty Pharmacy: Consumer-Centric, Tech-Enabled, and Collaborative
What’s Next?
Stakeholders broadly agree: the next five years will see accelerated shifts toward direct-to-consumer (DTC) models, remote monitoring, personalized therapies, and increased home-based care. Patients are demanding more choice, transparency, and affordability.
Whether through Amazon’s delivery logistics, Centerwell’s telehealth-integrated services, or payor adoption of cost-plus pricing, the pharmacy of the future is being shaped by technology, empowered consumers, and new value definitions that prioritize outcomes over volume.
In closing, being a part of Asembia’s 2025 Summit made it clear that specialty is at the forefront of healthcare. Through meaningful discussions at our booth, thoughtful presentations from industry leaders, and the overall vibe of the event, we’re ready to support specialty pharmacies in their quest to take advantage of all the opportunities that lie ahead as they make advanced therapies more accessible, affordable, and effective for the patients they serve.
Excited about the future of specialty pharmacy? XiFin is here to help you navigate specialty pharmacy billing challenges and seize new opportunities. Contact us today for solutions tailored to your needs.