Drug Channels Leadership Forum 2026: Request an Invitation Before It’s Too Late!

The 2026 Drug Channels Leadership Forum (DCLF) is coming soon! Our second annual event will take place March 16–18, 2026, at the Turnberry Resort & Spa in Miami.

Once again, Drug Channels Institute (DCI) is proud to host this invite-only gathering of senior leaders across the drug channel ecosystem. You must request an invitation to be considered for attendance. Our final wave of invitations will begin in mid-January.

Request An Invitation

The 2026 program features in-depth fireside chats with me, along with dynamic panel discussions led by an exceptional group of executives and subject matter experts. View the full 2026 Drug Channels Leadership Forum agenda.

• Meet the Speakers

• Who Should Attend

• What to Expect

• Get Started

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Our 2026 speaker lineup brings together a diverse group of C-suite executives, policymakers, and industry thought leaders—ensuring every session delivers candid, high-value insights you won’t hear anywhere else.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

DCLF is a strategic, invite-only gathering for leaders from across the healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape, including:

• Pharmaceutical manufacturers
• PBMs, health plans, employers, and plan sponsors
• Health systems and physician practices
• Pharmacies and wholesalers
• Policymakers

Click here to watch highlights from our 2025 event and hear testimonials directly from participants.

To maintain the event’s strategic focus, attendance from industry suppliers (e.g., technology, consulting, financial services, etc.) is available only through sponsorship. Each sponsorship level includes a limited number of attendee badges, ensuring a highly curated and balanced group of participants.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Expect another year of bold, candid discussions—this is not a conference of scripted presentations. We’ve enhanced the 2026 agenda with new formats and even more opportunities for direct, high-impact exchanges among attendees.

At DCLF, there are no exhibit halls, no press, no recordings, and no distractions—just substance and strategy.

You can expect:

• Provocative panels with C-suite executives
• Off-the-record insights and open Q&A sessions
• Meaningful peer-to-peer dialogue in an intimate setting

If you want to be in the room where it happens, there’s no substitute for being there in person.

GET STARTED

Be part of the conversation! Join us at DCLF 2026

Our final wave of invitations will begin in mid-January. You must request an invitation to be considered for attendance.

Have questions? Please contact us.

We look forward to welcoming you to Miami in March 2026.

Drug Channels News Roundup, December 2025: The Net Pricing Drug Channel (#NPDC) Era, LillyDirect, My $0.02 on New MFPs, PBMs in Medicaid—and DCLF 2026

Happy New Year, everyone!

As always, thank you for welcoming Drug Channels into your inboxes, browsers, and apps. I’m continually inspired by the diverse and thoughtful people who follow, share, and challenge our work. Our DCI community now includes more than 110,000 subscribers and followers across the industry. If you haven't already done so, you can stay connected by signing up for an email subscription or following me on LinkedIn.

We loved bringing you our analysis and curated links throughout 2025, and we hope you enjoyed engaging with us—and with one another—across the DCI community.

Stay tuned! In addition to our second Drug Channels Leadership Forum, we have several exciting announcements coming your way in 2026.

Wishing you and your family health and happiness,
Adam and the DCI team

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In our final roundup of 2025:

• The gross-to-net bubble is deflating. Prepare for the Net Pricing Drug Channels (#NPDC).

• Inside LillyDirect and DTC pharma

• Inflated savings from the Inflation Reduction Act’s second set of prices

• PBMs’ surprising resilience in Medicaid

Plus: We're getting ready for the second Drug Channels Leadership Forum! Have you submitted your invite request yet?

P.S. Join my nearly 67,000 LinkedIn followers for daily links to neat stuff, along with sharp and thoughtful commentary from the DCI community.

340B Hit $81 Billion in 2024: Why CMS and the IRA Are Poised to Cool the Program’s Runaway Growth (VIDEO)

Yesterday, I published 340B Hit $81 Billion in 2024 (+23%): Why CMS and the IRA Are Poised to Cool the Program’s Runaway Growth.

For those who prefer watching to reading, I asked AI to turn our latest 340B analysis into a tidy little video.

Let me know what you think of this format and whether you'd like to see more.

Click here if you can't see the video below.

340B Hit $81 Billion in 2024 (+23%): Why CMS and the IRA Are Poised to Cool the Program’s Runaway Growth

Whoa. The 340B Drug Pricing Program has once again given new meaning to the word “skyrocketing.”

For 2024, discounted purchases under the 340B program reached a record $81.4 billion—an astounding $15.1 billion (+23%) higher than 2023. The gross-to-net difference between list prices and discounted 340B purchases—a proxy for funds available to covered entities—also grew, to $66.4 billion (+$6.0 billion). Hospitals again accounted for 87% of 340B purchases.

How big is the program? 340B purchases are now more than 50% larger than Medicaid’s net prescription drug spending. The program now accounts for nearly one-fifth of the total U.S. gross-to-net bubble.

But thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), 340B’s day of reckoning is coming soon. I expect 2026 to be the first year of structural 340B pressure as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues its regulatory takeover of the 340B program. What’s more, I expect the program’s out-of-control growth rate to slow and for some long-overdue transparency to enter this notoriously opaque program.

Read on for our full analysis—and why the 340B swell may finally be breaking.

Gross-to-Net Bubble Hits $356B in 2024—But Growth Slows to 10-Year Low (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for today’s live video webinar: Drug Channels outlook 2026. I'll be discussing why and how the gross-to-net bubble will be deflating.

Click here to see the original post from July 2025.

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Is the gross-to-net bubble—the ever-widening gap between brand-name drug sales at list prices and their net revenues after rebates and discounts—finally beginning to deflate?

Drug Channels Institute (DCI) estimates that the gross-to-net reductions for all brand-name drugs reached $356 billion in 2024, a 7% increase over the previous year. Yet despite this record total, the bubble expanded at the slowest rate in at least a decade.

In our analysis below, we highlight five key forces driving this shift. Among them: manufacturers’ evolving market access strategies, which increasingly aim to offset—or circumvent—growing pricing pressure from both commercial and government payers.

Meanwhile, many patients remain adrift in the drug channel’s murky waters. As for SpongeBob SquarePants—the longtime mascot of the gross-to-net bubble here at Drug Channels—he’s still with us…but may be eyeing the exit.

The Future of Buy-and-Bill Market Access: Five Drivers of Wholesalers’ Vertical Integration with Physician Practices (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for tomorrow's live video webinar: Drug Channels Outlook 2026 .

Click here to see the original post from October 2025.

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Vertical integration continues to reshape U.S. healthcare, as detailed in DCI’s new 2025-26 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.

Our latest analysis shows how the Big Three companies—Cencora, Cardinal Health, and McKesson—are extending their reach far beyond drug distribution, building influence throughout the drug channel.

In recent years, these companies have spent more than $16 billion to acquire management service organizations (MSOs) that oversee physician practices in such specialties as gastroenterology, oncology, ophthalmology, and urology.

Below, we highlight the largest MSO transactions and explore five ways wholesalers benefit from ownership in their downstream physician customers. Ultimately, these strategies may allow wholesalers to exert unprecedented control over market access for provider-administered drugs—if they can figure out how to realize this power.

Today’s post is adapted from Section 6.3.2. in DCIs 2025-26 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.

Who Will Pay for Prescription Drugs in 2033: DCI’s Takeaways from the Latest Government Forecasts (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for Friday's live video webinar: Drug Channels Outlook 2026 .

Click here to see the original post from September 2025.

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Over the summer, the boffins at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the latest projections for U.S. spending on healthcare. (See links below.) These data provide the latest official and apolitical look at the future of U.S. healthcare spending.

The top line projections highlight the government’s official view that prescription drugs dispensed by retail and mail pharmacies will have a modest impact on U.S. healthcare costs.

However, there are some notable changes from the previous forecast. CMS now expects that the Inflation Reduction Act’s changes to the Medicare Part D program will have a greater impact than previously projected, while private insurers will find drug costs creeping higher.

Below, we outline the four major takeaways from the latest projections, which continue to show that taxpayers—primarily via Medicare and Medicaid—will continue to dominate the employer-sponsored insurance market. And like it or not, vertically integrated insurers, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and providers will continue to prosper.

Follow the 340B Dollar: Senator Cassidy Exposes How CVS Health and Walgreens Profit as 340B Contract Pharmacies (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for Friday’s live video webinar: Drug Channels Outlook 2026.

Today's rerun provides background for the webinar, when I will discuss the consequences of the Inflation Reduction Act for the 340B program and contract pharmacies. Click here to see the original post from May 2025.

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Two weeks ago, Senator Bill Cassidy—now chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)—dropped a must-read, eyebrow-raising report on the out-of-control 340B Drug Pricing Program. (Link below.)

The report reveals previously confidential information showing how billions are funneled to health systems and pharmacies—with manufacturers unable to follow the flow.

Below, we use these new disclosures to illustrate the 340B program’s hidden prescription economics for 340B contract specialty pharmacies operated by CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

As you can see, the program’s participants earn substantial margins, while plans and third-party payers foot the bill.

What do you think? Click here to share your thoughts with the Drug Channels LinkedIn community.  

How Large PBMs Make Money Today: A 2025 Drug Channels Update (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for Friday’s live video webinar: Drug Channels Outlook 2026 .

Today's rerun provides valuable context for the webinar, when I will discuss how the large PBMs' profit model will be changing in the coming years. Click here to see the original post from May 2025.

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During my PBM Industry Update: Trends, Challenges, and What’s Ahead video webinar, I explored the latest trends, emerging data, and strategic shifts transforming the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry.

In the video clip below, I explain how PBM compensation models continue to evolve:

• Traditional profit sources, such as mail dispensing of nonspecialty drugs and retained rebates, have become less significant.

• Retail network spreads now account for a small portion of large PBMs’ overall profits.

• Specialty dispensing profits, manufacturer administrative fees, and revenues from group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have emerged as major contributors to PBM profitability.

Can’t see the video? Click here to watch the PBM compensation models clip.

Understanding how PBMs generate profits is key to navigating the evolving drug channel landscape. Watch the full webinar replay and download the complete slide deck to explore these dynamics in more depth.

For a more comprehensive analysis of the forces transforming PBMs, see DCI’s 2025 Economic Report on U.S. Pharmacies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

Closing the Specialty Access Gap: How GoodRx Turns Intent Into Therapy Starts

Today’s guest post comes from Laura Jensen, Chief Commercial Officer and President, Pharma Solutions at GoodRx

Laura explores the structural hurdles that slow time-to-therapy and outlines practical ways stakeholders can streamline the path from prescription intent to treatment initiation.

To learn more, book a meeting with GoodRx.

Read on for Laura’s insights.

List Price Reductions Will Deflate the Gross-to-Net Bubble–and Threaten Pharmacy and 340B Profits from IRA-Negotiated Drugs

Contrary to popular belief, the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) maximum fair prices (MFPs) could temporarily boost profits for retail pharmacies serving Medicare Part D patients.

The bad news? The IRA is also one of the five key forces deflating the gross-to-net bubble.

That’s why any IRA-related pharmacy profits will vanish if manufacturers lower list prices to be closer to net prices. At least 13 brand-name drugs—five of which have MFPs—reportedly plan to reduce list prices within the next two months.

As I show below, retail pharmacies risk becoming collateral damage from significant deflation in the gross-to-net bubble for drugs subject to an MFP. Welcome to our bonkers healthcare system—where everyone wants lower prices, until they actually get them.

What’s more, list price cuts will reduce profits from 340B contract pharmacy operations, while weakening covered entities’ main objections to a 340B rebate model. Get ready for a 340B slowdown.

For more on the intended and unintended consequences of the IRA—and its interplay with 340B—join me for my live video webinar, Drug Channels Outlook 2026, on December 12, 2025, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET.

The Hidden Burdens of Cancer Care: When Insurers Override Doctors

Today’s guest post comes from Josh Schwartz, Vice President, Medical Affairs, North America at BeOne Medicines and Matt Shaulis, General Manager, North America at BeOne Medicines.

Josh and Matt aim to raise awareness about the negative effects of insurer-imposed policies such as therapeutic substitution and step therapy. They argue that physicians have a deeper understanding of disease states and individual patient biology than insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). To ensure the best outcomes, they contend that doctors—not insurers—should determine each patient’s optimal treatment plan.

Learn about BeOne Medicines, a global oncology company.

Read on for Josh and Matt’s insights.