Husch Blackwell LLP served as counsel to Evio Pharmacy Solutions, an independent pharmacy solutions company, in the creation of a groundbreaking joint venture, Synergie Medication Collective, LLC. The other owners of Synergie are Elevance Health, Prime Therapeutics, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and several independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans. Synergie will operate as an independent company, creating value for its owners and the 100 million Americans they represent.
Synergie will focus on improving affordability and access to costly medical benefit drugs—those injected or infused by a health care professional in a clinical setting. These treatments include multi-million-dollar gene therapies and infusible cancer drugs and represent a substantial portion of overall U.S. drug spend. Synergie aims to significantly reduce medical benefit drug costs by establishing a more efficient contracting model based upon its collective reach and engagement with pharmaceutical manufacturers and other industry stakeholders.
Husch Blackwell represented Evio in the formation of the joint venture and the negotiation of terms under which it will participate in group purchasing operations for the benefit of its plan owners, which are five Blues plans from across the United States.
The Husch Blackwell team was led by Andy Demetriou and Remy Fesquet, who handled corporate aspects of the transaction and included Pete Enko and Renee Zerbonia, who advised Evio on drug purchasing and participation issues.