In our weekly Trends that Matter series, we provide engaging infographics from healthcare influencers to highlight general trends affecting the pharmaceutical industry. This week's featured pharma topic is integrated specialty networks. FDA approval for specialty drugs has been on the rise in recent years.

Specialty pharmaceuticals often have the following characteristics:

"Prescription drugs (often complex, large molecule biologics) that are difficult to manufacture and require special handling or administration, have limited distribution, target a narrow group of chronic diseases, are costly (both in total and on a per-patient basis) and require ongoing clinical support," according to Prescient Healthcare Group.

View the infographic below, created by Drug Channels to see the predicted pharmaceutical industry revenues that will come from traditional and specialty drugs in the year 2020:

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