AscellaHealth Launches Strategic Pharmacy Benefits Enablement Platform to Address 2026 Healthcare Cost and Access Challenges
BERWYN, Pa., Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AscellaHealth, a global partner delivering customizable solutions for the specialty pharmaceutical industry, today announced the launch of AscellaOne™, a technology-driven strategic enablement platform designed to modernize how health plans, employers and PBM organizations administer and manage pharmacy benefits. AscellaOne seamlessly connects payers and vendor partners through a modular, interoperable ecosystem—delivering the economics and capabilities of traditional, large national PBMs without being one, while providing the transparency, flexibility and control that employers and health plans increasingly demand.
The launch of AscellaOne comes as payers and healthcare stakeholders face a convergence of forces reshaping the industry, including the accelerating impact of high-cost specialty medications, growing employer dissatisfaction with legacy PBM models and intensified regulatory scrutiny. AscellaOne is designed to help payers and partners navigate these pressures by enabling seamless collaboration, configurable benefit design and data-driven decision-making to improve cost savings and patient access.
“The industry is undergoing one of the most complex and consequential periods in decades,” says Dea Belazi, chief executive officer of AscellaHealth. “Legacy models are no longer equipped to address today’s affordability, access and transparency challenges. AscellaOne represents a better path forward through a membership model that empowers payers and partners to seamlessly connect, transact and innovate through a modern, tech-enabled ecosystem purpose-built for today’s healthcare environment.”
As a networked ecosystem, AscellaOne addresses the most critical trends reshaping the pharmacy benefit landscape:
1. Escalating Impact of High-Cost Specialty Medications
The pharmaceutical market is experiencing a surge in FDA approvals for high-cost specialty therapies targeting cancer, rare disease and autoimmune conditions. An estimated 50–55 new drugs are expected to launch annually over the next five years, with approximately 75% classified as specialty medications. These therapies now account for more than 51% of total drug spending, despite representing less than 5% of all prescription claims.
AscellaOne helps payers and employers manage the most complex driver of pharmacy spend—specialty medications—while delivering the convenience of a single, integrated tool set that enables payer organizations to improve affordability, better clinical oversight and sustainable access to high-cost therapies.
2. Rising Employer Frustration with Traditional Pharmacy Benefit Models
Employers are increasingly dissatisfied with opaque pricing, rising out-of-pocket costs and inflexible plan designs. According to a recent Rx Benefits survey of U.S. employers, 52% would reconsider their current pharmacy benefits plan if annual costs increased by just 3%–10%. Pharmacy spending remains the fastest-growing component of health benefits, rising 11.4% year over year and projected to increase by $116 billion by 2029.
By unifying best-in-class vendors and services through a single ecosystem, AscellaOne helps organizations like regional health plans and small-to-mid tier PBMs gain greater visibility, flexibility and control over how pharmacy benefits are structured and managed.
3. Intensifying Regulatory and Policy Pressure
Drug pricing reform and PBM transparency initiatives continue to accelerate at both the state and federal levels. More than 23 states have enacted drug transparency laws and hundreds of PBM-related bills have been introduced nationwide, reflecting bipartisan momentum to improve affordability, accountability and oversight.
AscellaOne is designed to help health plans and PBM organizations adapt to evolving regulatory requirements without the constraints of legacy infrastructures or long-term, inflexible contracts. Through its modular architecture, organizations can adopt individual capabilities or a comprehensive suite of services—allowing them to remain compliant, responsive and competitive as policy expectations and market dynamics continue to evolve.
“We are strategically positioning our solutions to help employers and health plans manage cost containment, evolving plan design and integrated care models – without relying on fragmented, single-purpose vendors,” Belazi adds. “By maintaining a strong focus on patient-centric care, our approach supports sustainable cost control while preserving access to essential therapies.”
About AscellaHealth
AscellaHealth is a global partner that delivers proven end-to-end solutions to both life sciences and healthcare companies to enhance the quality of life for patients with complex, chronic conditions. A dedicated team gets critical healthcare products from manufacturers to patients while ensuring an efficient flow of funds between payers and pharma. Visit www.AscellaHealth.com.
Media:
Esther Jin
CPR Communications
ejin@cpronline.com
201.645.4896 x10
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