Capital Rx
In Part 5 of our “fireside chat” with General Catalyst's Holly Maloney, Capital Rx CEO A.J. Loiacono asked Holly about the elements of the Capital Rx model that attracted her to the company. In less than 3 minutes, she explains the complexity of the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) space and how Capital Rx’s “responsible innovation” aligns with General Catalyst’s Health Assurance thesis.
Transcript
Edited lightly for length and clarity.
AJ Loiacono - Capital Rx
So, I always like to ask the question because I think that we're a lot of things for a lot of different people, but I always want to hear from our investors and partners: what did you find that Capital Rx was really addressing that was most important? Or are there certain elements that you felt were critical in our model that the healthcare industry really needs?
Holly Maloney - General Catalyst
Yeah, it's a great question.
For many years, I had been studying the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) market and found myself making charts of the supply chain and trying to describe the market to my partners, some of whom are focused on healthcare, and some are not. And looking at the incumbent players in the space, I realized that it got to a point where I couldn't stare my partners in the face and say, “Here's how all the dollars flow. This is who's contributing what, for what, from an innovation perspective, from a value-add perspective…” and then be able to correlate the dollars that were associated with those things in a really clear way. And how does this, at the end of the day, benefit the end consumer from a cost-of-care perspective and from a consumer experience perspective?
And so what was so important for me, and why, after our first Zoom call, because this was the height of COVID that we first connected, and why I knew I wanted to partner with you and your team, is I could really clearly describe the technology innovation that you were bringing to a market that had not innovated from a technology perspective, arguably ever, why you were very focused on transparency and having every stakeholder really clearly understand the supply chain and the pricing of drugs and then, you know, really focused on the experience for the consumer. How is, whether it's a commercial life or Medicare or Medicaid, a person going to be better off as a result of the innovation that you were bringing to the industry?
All of those things were really critical for us as we think about A) our Health Assurance thesis but then B) responsible innovation. Responsible innovation is a really important pillar for our firm. And I just felt so excited that I saw a company that actually was innovating in a really responsible way in bringing much-needed information and data to a relatively historically stagnant market.
If you'd like to watch any of the other videos in the series:
Part 1: Navigating 2022 - A Recap of Top Challenges Faced
Part 2: Outlook for 2023 – What to Watch For
Part 3: Capital Rx’s Expansion into Medicare
Part 4: Regulatory Progress – The CAA & IRA
Part 6: Suggestions for Entrepreneurs & Startup Leadership
Contact us if you'd like to learn more about Capital Rx's full-service PBM and PBA solutions.