PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Responding to increasing numbers of patients calling to request Ascend Laboratories (Ascend) brand pharmaceuticals, Ascend has teamed up with PursueCareRX, a national mail-order and retail pharmacy, to refer patients for dispensing of their Ascend brand medications.

Ascend is the American subsidiary of Alkem Labs, one of the largest manufacturers of off-patent FDA-approved medications in both India and the US. Ascend/Alkem has over 80 different molecules FDA-approved for the United States market. These medications are sometimes specifically requested by patients to treat certain conditions. Patients sometimes cannot find the Ascend brand medication at a pharmacy local to them, resulting from their pharmacy switching to another brand.

John Dillaway, Ascend’s Executive Vice President, stated, “Patients frequently contact Ascend to tell us that their experience with a new brand left them with undesired side effects or seemed less effective.” Mr. Dillaway added, “Ascend is pleased to work with PursueCareRX to have a go-to pharmacy where patients are assured of getting the Ascend brand when they make such a request, on any and all Ascend brand medicines”.

PursueCareRx is the pharmacy division of PursueCare, a nationally-recognized leader in treating substance use disorders, mental health, and primary care needs through telemedicine. Ascend formed the partnership with PursueCareRx because of its focus on fostering high quality healthcare and regulatory compliance, as well as its ability to provide excellent customer service to patients making the request for Ascend medications. Because PursueCareRx frequently works with populations requiring personalized pharmacy consultation and support, they offer all patients medication therapy management consults to help them better understand their healthcare options and the medications that are prescribed to them. The program will provide patients seeking Ascend-brand medications with the same high-touch customer service, reducing common friction between those patients and local pharmacies that do not provide the products or will not honor specific brand requests.

“PursueCareRX prides itself on being able to serve many populations requiring thoughtful patient care and solutions for common problems that may lack solutions at their local pharmacy,” added Nick Mercadante, CEO of PursueCareRX. “We are proud to participate in this program with Ascend, which will certainly benefit those patients wanting streamlined access to Ascend medications.”

The program will be supported by Capital Wholesale Drug Company (Capital), a regional drug wholesaler located in Columbus, Ohio. Capital has committed to keeping available all molecules from Ascend in order to insure the viability of this program.

The program will be listed on https://ascendlaboratories.com and https://pursuecarerx.com websites with specific instructions and dial-in customer service numbers for patients. The program is slated to launch in the first quarter of 2022.