Asembia ASX26: The ‘Entirely Pass-Through’ Business Model

While advances in cell & gene therapy continue to show promise for creating new treatments, this sector of the industry still faces a major hurdle: the high costs. Whether it’s on the R&D side or delivering and administering the treatment to the patients, cell& gene therapies are expensive.

Pharmaceutical Executive spoke with Aradigm Health CEO Will Shrank at the Asembia ASX26 Summit in Las Vegas. During the conversation, he explained the issues the payers face with cell & gene therapies, along with the strategies that the industry is using to move forward with these treatments.

Click here for our full Asembia ASX26 coverage!

Pharmaceutical Executive: Can you describe the 'entirely pass-through' business model?
Will Shrank: The has been an overwhelming call for more transparency with how we pay for care, and there is a sense that a lot of folks along the process and supply chain (often described as middlemen or middle people) take little chunks.

The lack of clarity on what those chunks are creates a lot of distrust, and frankly, does create meaningful amounts of waste. Transparency is really critical to build the trust we need to create sort of these sustainable business models. Our approach, as a carved-out benefits manager, is we just charge an admin fee. It's totally transparent.

It's clearly described to customers. Every penny that either is part of our admin fee or administrative costs in the product are disclosed to customers so that we can really get aligned around what we're paying for and trying to accomplish.

That way, if and when we produce meaningful savings, or if and when there are opportunities to have dollars left over at the end of the year, it all gets returned to the purchasers entirely as a dividend. We do not, we do not have any incentive to withhold treatment or reduce access.