🔒Large company winner: Specialty drugs propel Apothecary By Design’s triple-digit sales growth

Specialty pharmaceuticals have helped propel Maine's fastest-growing large company. Apothecary By Design, which had sales growth of 396% over a two-year span, sells medications used to treat HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, autoimmune disorders and a range of illnesses and diseases that often have a lengthy — and costly — period of treatment. ABD also has a significant presence in the arena of fertility drugs.

The growth has come at a time when the pharmaceutical industry has gotten away from many of its stalwart drugs because they've achieved generic status, making it possible for other companies to sell them more cheaply. To compensate for what's being called the “generic cliff,” pharmaceuticals are plunging into specialized pharmaceuticals. For instance, the treatment for Hepatitis C can cost $30,000. It's not unusual for a patient to be on more than one specialized medicine at a time. For instance, one third of the Hep C population is also being treated for HIV.

“There's been 15% to 20% growth in specialty drugs, industrywide, driven by new drugs and medicines,” says Mark McAuliffe, a founder, managing partner and CEO.

Apothecary By Design had sales last year of $163 million, though it should be noted that the sales period measured by the Mainebiz Fastest Growing Awards was 2013-15.

The company, which is based at 141 Preble St. in Portland, has about 142 employees at three sites, including 79 in Portland. It was founded in 2008. This year, it expects sales of $250 million, up from $163 million a year ago. In August 2015, ABD received private equity funding from New York-based BelHealth Investment Partners that helped it better compete with the larger pharmacy benefit managers, which both set rates and offer their own discount mail-order operations.

In the past year, it sold its retail pharmacy, which had been at 84 Marginal Way in Portland and is now owned and operated by a former employee. Also this year, it invested in pharmacies that offer specialized fertility medications. In March, it acquired Healy Pharmacy in Warrenville, Ill., and in October it acquired Village Fertility Pharmacy in Waltham, Mass. More than bricks and mortar, the two specialized pharmacies give ABD a deeper staff of pharmacists and help ABD tap into a network of specialists that can refer products and services.

“You're buying relationships with referral services, someone who says, 'I'm recommending you go in this direction,'” says Catherine Cloudman, a principal at ABD.

Of the 200 clinicians certified in specialty pharmacy nationwide, nine are at ABD. In addition to producing specialized medications, ABD can offer consultation and can negotiate health care coverage on patients' behalf.

“This population is not healthy and needs a lot of assistance,” says Cloudman.

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