The initiative was first announced back in January 2018 by Intermountain Healthcare [1] and now includes Catholic Health Initiatives, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Providence St Joseph Health, SSM Health, and Trinity Health. These seven organizations represent about 500 US hospitals. In addition, Civica Rx will also work in consultation with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Intermountain Healthcare has also said that since the initiative was announced ‘more than 120 health organizations representing about a third of the nation’s hospitals have contacted Civica Rx and expressed a commitment or interest in participating with the new company’.

Three national foundations have also committed US$30 million to help establish Civica Rx. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Gary and Mary West Foundation each committed US$10 million.

Civica Rx will either directly manufacture generics or subcontract manufacturing to reputable contract manufacturing organizations. It has identified 14 hospital-administered generics as the initial focus of the company’s efforts and expects to have its first products on the market as early as 2019.

The company’s first aim is to stabilize the supply of essential generics administered in hospitals, many of which have fallen into chronic shortage situations, putting patients at risk. The initiative, according to the associations, ‘will also result in lower costs and more predictable supplies of essential generic medicines, helping ensure that patients and their needs come first in the generic drug marketplace’.

The company states that ‘research into the actual costs of manufacturing and distributing generic drugs suggests that, in many instances, prices for generic drugs used in hospitals can be reduced to a fraction of their current costs’.

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Reference
1.  GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Hospitals to start own generics company [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2018 Oct 5]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Generics/News/Hospitals-to-start-own-generics-company

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