2025 Asembia Summit Highlights the Connection Between Integration and Innovation

Several of our McKesson experts recently attended the 2025 Asembia Summit – a premier industry event held from April 27 to May 1, 2025, at the Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas, NV. This summit, considered by many to be one of the “can’t-miss” specialty pharmacy events each year, gathered thousands of leading pharmaceutical and pharmacy executives to engage in strategic discussions on notable trends and strategies shaping the future of specialty pharmacy. Representing McKesson Health Systems at the Asembia Summit were two of our industry experts, Craig Dolan, VP, Knowledge Management and Thought Leadership and Michael Welsh, Director, MPB Sales Operations, who actively connected with specialty pharmacy leaders nationwide.

One of the persistent themes our experts noticed woven throughout this year’s summit was innovation. There’s no question that the conversation around innovation in healthcare and specialty pharmacy specifically is a loud, ongoing one – though it’s often being had in a more disconnected fashion than may be conducive to efficiency. For Michael Welsh, one point stood out clearly: silos slow progress. “When we work in silos, we are slower to innovate,” Welsh says, which is something summit attendees showed interest in addressing, whether through utilization of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) tools and other technologies to solve for drug access, developing more creative, holistic models to support the increasing number of health systems entering the cell and gene therapy (CGT) space, or otherwise.

Whether it’s silos between health systems and manufacturers, across internal teams, or among industry partners, there seems to be a growing consensus that the future of specialty pharmacy depends on more integrated thinking. Our experts walked away with the sense that the real breakthroughs – the ones that make a difference for patient access and, ultimately, better outcomes – will come from people, partners, and platforms working together in more fluid ways.

As our experts continue to reflect on the insights gained through the 2025 Asembia Summit, we look ahead in our efforts to reimagine what’s possible when problems are no longer solved in isolation but in integrated, creative, and collaborative ways that improve patient outcomes and help health systems achieve more, like with our newest solution, Specialty and Infusion for Health Systems. Download our exclusive Insider’s First Look below to learn more.

To learn more about other specialty pharmacy events our McKesson experts will be attending to help health systems achieve more, visit our new events page here.