MANAGED CARE November 2003. ©MediMedia USA Treatments that
interfere with protein synthesis at the cellular level will soon
be debated in medical policy committee meetings. In my travels
around the country, I find that most pharmacy and medical
directors are having a difficult time keeping up with all of the
newly released products in the pharmaceutical arena. They appear
to have a particularly difficult time with the biologics as
these agents are used to treat many diseases that received
little time and attention in medical and pharmacy school. Until
recently, biologics were also off the pharmacy and medical
director's radar due to their cost. Prior columns have
concentrated on newly released products. This column, however,
will give a glimpse of the future. Most biologic drugs currently
available in the U.S. are proteins or polypeptides. Other
cellular products and processes are starting to appear in the
drug pipeline. It is known that abnormal, insufficient, or
overabundant proteins are a major factor in m