Pharmacy Forecast: GLP-1 Profitability Expected to Remain a Challenge

Scott Biggs, director of supplier services at IQVIA, and Doug Long, vice president of industry relations at IQVIA, sat down with Drug Topics at the 2024 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo to discuss some of this year’s most significant pharmacy trends. Biggs and Long will review these trends in-depth during their session on Monday, August 19, titled “2024 Pharmacy Trends, Issues, and Forecasts.”

Drug Topics: What are some of the most significant pharmacy trends emerging in 2024?

Scott Biggs: One of the biggest things we've been watching is what's happening with the GLP-1 [glucagon-like peptide-1] category. It's a very large category having some significant impacts on the sales side within [the pharmaceutical industry]. There's also been something to watch around drug shortages.

Doug Long: I would add in, the reconstruction of DIR [direct and indirect remuneration] fees that made them prospectively, then retrospectively, a big impact in the first half of the year, [and] cyber attacks. RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] was big at the end of last year.

READ MORE: Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: A Win-Win For Patients and Pharmacies Dispensing GLP-1s

Drug Topics: How do you see these trends shaping the industry over the next few years?

Long: Well, the challenge of GLP-1s is profitability. Generally, a pharmacy loses money on every GLP-1 prescription they dispense. That kind of kind of throws the whole business model; you can't have that situation that they lose money on dispensing prescriptions.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo was held August 17 to August 19, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for more of our coverage.