New platform accelerates service delivery and monitors clinical efficacy – without increasing member disruption

LATHAM, N.Y., Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Araya, a transparent pharmacy benefit manager redefining how pharmacy benefits work for employers, plans, and members, today announced the launch of Max, their new Prior Authorization (PA) solution. Max is powered by Ethicos Health's AI–Enabled Clinical Efficacy Platform to base certification and re-certification on whether or not a medication is actually working for each unique member. Max enables Araya to manage prior authorizations across a significantly broader range of medications and therapeutic classes while also evaluating continued therapy against established clinical guidelines to ensure a medication is achieving defined clinical endpoints – all without increasing disruption for members or providers.

"Prior authorization should support better outcomes and in turn, cost control," said Patrick McLaughlin, President of Araya. "With Max, we can ensure that members who are benefiting from therapy can continue treatment seamlessly, while applying smarter oversight when medications are not achieving their intended clinical endpoints. This is what transparent, outcomes-focused pharmacy benefit management looks like."

Managing Initial and Continued Therapy With Less Friction

Within Araya's transparent PBM model, Max leverages the Ethicos AI-enabled Clinical Efficacy Platform to proactively coordinate prior authorization workflows throughout the entire lifecycle of therapy, under the guidance of the Araya clinical team. The platform evaluates initial authorization requests and supports continued coverage decisions that are contingent on real-world clinical effectiveness, reducing unnecessary interruptions to care.

Key capabilities include:

• Expanded PA management across more medications and therapeutic classes, including specialty and high-cost therapies
• Continued-therapy support that aligns ongoing coverage with achievement of defined clinical endpoints
• Reduced member disruption through continuity-of-care protections and proactive renewal management
• Improved provider experience with faster determinations and lower administrative touchpoints for approvals
• AI-enabled intelligent automation that operationalizes clinical guidelines, to streamline administrative processes while maintaining clinician control and judgment and freeing providers to focus on patient care.

By automating routine determinations and focusing clinical review on high-impact or non-responsive cases, Max helps ensure that effective therapies remain accessible while supporting responsible utilization management.

Built for Transparency, Ethics, and Outcomes

Max reflects a shared commitment by Araya and Ethicos to leverage AI – not for making decisions – but to make it easier for clinicians to make informed decisions. Prior authorization and continued-therapy decisions are clinically grounded and auditable, giving employers and plans clear visibility into how coverage decisions are made and how outcomes are measured over time.

"Traditional prior authorization is often viewed as an obstacle to care," said Leigh Ann Ruggles, Co-Founder of Ethicos Health. "Clinical efficacy is different – it uses real-world evidence to guide patients toward therapies that are working and gives plans the insight to move away from paying indefinitely for treatments that aren't delivering value."

Availability

Max is available immediately to Araya clients and can be implemented within existing utilization management programs or deployed as a standalone prior authorization and continued-therapy support solution.

About Araya

Araya is a transparent pharmacy benefit manager focused on simplifying pharmacy benefits, lowering total drug spend, and improving the experience for members and providers. By combining clear economics, clinical expertise, and advanced technology, Araya delivers pharmacy solutions built on trust, accountability, and better outcomes.

About Ethicos Health

Ethicos Health's AI-Enabled Clinical Efficacy platform transforms traditional prior authorization to make it more clinically effective while reducing specialty pharmacy costs for health plans, PBMs, their clients, and members. As a SaaS healthcare company, Ethicos empowers plan sponsors to improve patient outcomes while meaningfully reducing specialty pharmacy spend by measuring whether medications are actually working for members.

Media Contact

David Barrington, Araya, 1 518-220-2613 713, dbarrington@arayarx.com, http://www.arayarx.com 

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SOURCE Araya