Specialty medications are crucial to treating rare, chronic, and complex diseases. While millions of severely ill patients rely on high-cost specialty drugs, they often have a long wait or no access at all. These issues are predominantly due to inefficiencies in the flow of pharmaceutical products from manufacturers to wholesale distributors, hospitals, and pharmacies. There is a growing need to streamline the pharma supply chain and assure life-saving specialty drugs reach all patients on time. Summit SD’s roots are in this purpose. A clinician-led specialty pharma distributor, Summit SD keeps its promise of delivering the right medicines to right patients at the right time by streamlining different pieces of the pharma supply chain puzzle. “As middlemen between manufacturers and patients, we are driven by the mission and vision of providing continuity of patient-centric care with the highest integrity,” says Tom O’Neill, founder and CEO of Summit SD.
Drawing from decades of experience in the healthcare industry, O’Neill started a specialty pharmacy, Heritage Biologics, to treat rare and chronic diseases. Witnessing first-hand the pain of relying on external distributors to receive the right medications, which negatively impacted the level of patient care, he built the Summit SD distribution hub in the heart of America. It is perfectly located to service all stakeholders and provide quick and convenient solutions for patients across the nation.
Rather than being a one-stop shop that stocks numerous products, Summit SD provides healthcare organizations with high-quality, exclusive, and limited pharmaceutical products for highly selective therapies. It handpicks customers like hospitals and specialty, opendoor, and community pharmacies that require only hightouch, personalized medications for their patients. Summit SD makes a world of difference in deftly catering to the perennial challenge of high distribution fees imposed on manufacturers and pharmacies. It lowers unnecessary barriers to entry for manufacturers to launch their products at a reasonable price, and pharmacies to purchase and receive drugs in a timely manner. Summit SD’s robust cold chain processing, which stores and transports medications at the proper temperature, adds an extra dimension to its efficacy. They constantly monitor and verify temperature-sensitive products to ensure quality, stability, and effectiveness are not compromised.
In less than two years, Summit SD has licensed its distribution hub in 50 states and is accredited by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. They partner with a third-party validation support provider, going the extra mile to continually validate their internal cold chain program.
Its expert staff undergoes competency training and assessment twice a year to validate that they diligently pack the temperature-controlled shipments. It further assesses weather conditions every day to facilitate appropriate shipping methods to various regions.
Summit SD is nimble in making informed decisions in all aspects, whether a technical issue in the system, discontinuity in product procurement, shipping, lack of national drug code (NDC) information or product availability.
When it comes to agreement turnaround from existing vendors, its accounting team makes the contracting process easy for clients. It regularly tracks and monitors the turnaround time, 24 hours, on average, as part of their quality management assurance guarantee.
Exemplifying their commitment to patients is an instance where a large healthcare system could not order medications from a secondary supplier due to a technical issue in their software. Within 24 hours, Summit SD, being the exclusive distributor of the product, worked with both parties to facilitate a drop-shipment to avoid delays in therapy. In a similar scenario, a local pharmacy was unable to provide regular medication to a seriously-ill patient during a hurricane. Being a smaller entity, they did not have the resources to coordinate the distribution activities from a large wholesaler in times of crisis, where missing a single dose could have a negative impact on the patient’s life. Summit SD helped the patient obtain the required dose in less than a day with minimal turnaround time.
This nimbleness in responding to customer requirements is Summit SD’s cornerstone of success. “We are propelled by our patient first approach. Our high-performance leaders are a breath of fresh air for our stakeholders and patients in getting what they need,” states Amanda Walker, COO of Summit SD.
At the heart of Summit SD is a dedicated import team proficient in facilitating and expediting the distribution process throughout the United States. Being licensed as a third-party logistics provider gives flexibility to the team in assisting manufacturers in distribution while maintaining quick patient access.
Whether there’s an issue in their daily orders, invoicing, or shipments, dedicated account managers maintain transparency and quickly resolve them. Customers can rely on the service representatives who operate round-the-clock, responding to calls regarding potential issues within the supply chain and providing patient centric solutions.
In addition, Summit SD is DSCSA compliant and completely integrated with EDI capabilities. All of its day-to-day operations outlined in SOPs are focused on providing the best possible customer care. Client onboarding starts with providing standard documentation and applications. Healthcare systems and specialty pharmacies can order products through EDI, phone calls, and e-mail. All orders are shipped overnight and expedited delivery options are available. Customers can take advantage of convenient payment options and lines of credit, based on their status and eligibility. Summit SD’s best-in-class software capabilities further facilitate access to information about product pricing and availability. Customers can quickly and accurately obtain real-time information about product status and accessibility, sales and other reports.
In the distribution link of the pharmaceutical supply chain, patients are often overlooked. Summit SD recognizes that for every shipment, there’s a patient life at the end. With this in mind, Summit SD attributes its success to their clinician-led team who are committed to continually innovating the supply chain and cementing their legacy as an industry leader.
“We want to extend our concierge level of care from patients to pharmacies and manufacturers with their own needs and expectations,” adds O’Neill.
Summit SD is geared to attain prolific growth and plans to build a new facility to triple its capacity and collaborate with more manufacturers to bring new products to the table.
Doubling down on a clinician-led team built on talent and integrity, every entity in the pharma supply chain can rest assured that Summit SD makes the patient care journey a lot easier, accessible, and streamlined.