Infusion therapy involves the administration of medication through a needle or catheter. It is prescribed when a patient’s condition is so severe that it cannot be treated effectively by oral medications. Typically, “infusion therapy” means that a drug is administered intravenously, but the term also may refer to situations where drugs are provided through other non-oral routes, such as intramuscular injections and epidural routes. “Traditional” prescription drug therapies commonly administered via infusion include antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, chemotherapy, hydration, pain management, and parenteral nutrition. Infusion therapy is also provided to patients for treating a wide assortment of often chronic and sometimes rare diseases for which “specialty” infusion medications are effective. While some have been available for many years, others are newer drugs and biologics. Examples include blood factors, corticosteroids, erythropoietin, infliximab, inotropic heart medications, growth hormones, immunoglobulin, natalizumab and many others.
Home and specialty infusion service providers offer services provided in the outpatient setting, typically in the patient’s home or an infusion suite or clinic (AIC).
Since the 1980s, this industry has seen tremendous growth despite challenges with a comprehensive benefit from Medicare. Administration of medications in the home or infusion suite has been shown to be a safe and cost-effective method of treating most patients with minimal intrusion on their everyday lives. In recent years, there has been a grassroots effort to work with lawmakers to improve patient access to home and specialty infusion pharmacy services in these sites of care. Commercial payors have recently instilled site of care policies moving high-cost infusions to the home setting and as a result are seeing tremendous savings.
Home infusion has been proven to be a safe and effective alternative to inpatient care for a variety of therapies and disease states, both acute and chronic. For many patients, receiving treatment at home or in an infusion suite is preferable to inpatient care. This industry is continuing to grow now and into the future as more therapies are approved and quality outcomes are seen for home infusion patients.
M&A Transaction Activity
Below are M&A transaction activities which has been compiled from our work with businesses within this sector and our independent research in publicly available information. For additional information, please contact us here.
