AMCP Corporate Member Spotlight: Ascendis Pharma

AMCP News & Views recently caught up with Diann Potestio, vice president of market access at Ascendis Pharma to learn about her company and gain insights on becoming an AMCP corporate member.

As you considered becoming a Corporate Member, what tipped the scales? 

At Ascendis Pharma, we recognize AMCP as a leading organization in bringing the biopharmaceutical industry together with managed care pharmacy practitioners around the shared goal of improving patient health. As Ascendis aspires to commercialize the first of three products in endocrinology rare diseases in 2021, we became a corporate member so that we can begin to build a strong foundation of knowledge and relationships with the managed care community. We also believe it is important to begin an ongoing dialogue with the thought leadership within AMCP on Pre-Approval Information Exchange (PIE) to transform the interactions organizations like Ascendis can have with decision-makers. We now have platforms to effectively educate on our pipeline products and increase awareness and understanding of the value our technology brings to the marketplace.

What are your strategy and anticipated innovations for 2020? 

In 2020, we are working diligently to build out an exceptionally seasoned Market Access team to introduce Ascendis to the managed care community and to introduce our innovative and versatile technology platform. Our TransCon™ technology, which stands for “transient conjugation,” reflects the unique way TransCon combines a parent drug (proteins, peptides or small molecules) with a tunable linker and inert carrier for sustained drug release. Our proprietary technology has the potential to allow for release of an active drug anywhere from once a day to six months or more and is designed to solve the fundamental limitations of current treatment approaches by extending the half-life of drug candidates.

We have three unique pipeline candidates under clinical investigation in endocrinology rare disease, and we are pleased to have recently submitted a BLA for the first product candidate in this area. 

We are also developing a robust pipeline in oncology and anticipate filing our first IND or equivalent in oncology by the end of 2020. 

What’s your one-minute elevator speech about your company? 

Ascendis Pharma is an innovative biopharmaceutical company built on the versatile TransCon technology platform. We are committed to building a leading, fully integrated company to create best in class therapies across numerous therapeutic areas, beginning with endocrinology rare diseases and oncology. We aspire to build strong partnerships with the managed care community and to make a meaningful difference in the patients’ lives we serve.