After much fanfare, Civica begins delivery on generic drug promise
Just one year after its announced launch, Civica Rx has delivered on its promise to supply hospitals with generic medications at lower costs. Fed up with the high cost of drugs and ongoing shortages, particularly for drugs that have been around for years, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health and other nonprofit systems joined forces last year with the goal of providing more predictable pricing and access to drugs for its member hospitals.
Civica Rx is collaboration between three philanthropies and now 40 health systems, including Intermountain, representing over 1,000 hospitals in 46 states, that announced recently that patients at Riverton Hospital in Utah County are the first to receive a Civica medication, Vancomycin Hydrochloride. an injectable antibiotic that is commonly in short supply for hospitals across the country. The antibiotic will be available to all member health systems by the end of the month, according to Civica, with another essential antibiotic, daptomycin, available soon.
“This first delivery demonstrates the Civica model in action and is a dream come true,” said Martin VanTrieste, president and CEO of Civica Rx. “We thank leading health systems across the country who founded or have since become members of Civica for their ongoing commitment and collaboration. We thank our founding philanthropies for prioritizing accessible and affordable healthcare. We are thrilled with the long-term partnerships we’ve formed with quality generic drug suppliers. We thank all for coming together to do what is in the best interest of patients.”
Dan Liljenquist, the architect behind the generic drug company, applauded the health systems that came together last year for being willing to tackle the problem. “I’m particularly grateful for the health systems that early on took a risk to come forward and say, ‘Look, if we can’t solve this, we don’t think anybody can,’ and leaned in with us to make it happen,” he said in a statement.
Liljenquist outlined for health industry website Healthcare Dive what member hospitals can expect when buying from Civica Rx, noting transparency is a key tenet for the nonprofit drugmaker. Liljenquist said that Civica Rx pledges that every hospital, regardless of size, will have the same access to products; that there will be one single market price; and that a larger system will not enjoy discounts on larger volume purchases. He said that drug supply contracts will be the same for every hospital.
Civica Rx partnered with Danish company Xellia Pharmaceuticals to supply essential antibiotics. Vancomycin is used to treat serious infections that can be resistant to other antibiotics. Civica Rxhas also partnered with London-based Hikima Pharmaceuticals to manufacture 14 other injectable drugs that are also usually in short supply at U.S. hospitals and that the company expects to begin delivering soon.
Riverton Hospital officials expressed gratitude for being chosen for the first of the Civica deliveries. Rick Carlson, the facility’s pharmacy director, said, “I’ve got a great team of pharmacists and technicians that work side by side with the physicians and the nurses that care for the patients and help with their healing in the hospital. When we have to step away and deal with all of the drug shortages, it really detracts from the opportunity we have to be with the patient. Participating with Civica and being able to have their products in our facility really allows us a better opportunity to care for the patient and see them heal quicker.”
“We are honored to work with Civica Rx, an innovator in addressing generic drug shortages,” said Carl-Aake Carlsson, CEO of Xellia Pharmaceuticals, Civica’s supply partner for Vancomycin. “We join in the celebration of this historic milestone and look forward to our continued collaboration to mitigate drug shortages — particularly shortages of anti-infective medications across the U.S.”
Civica Rx was established in 2018 by health systems CommonSpirit Health, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Providence St. Joseph Health, SSM Health and Trinity Health along and philanthropies Gary and Mary West Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation and Peterson Center on Healthcare to reduce chronic generic drug shortages and related high prices in the United States. It exists in the public interest as a nonprofit, non-stock corporation committed to stabilizing the supply of essential generic medications in a hospital setting, according to press reports at the time of its founding. The primary medications that Civica will target include antibiotics, anesthetics, cardiac medications, pain management medications and other essential sterile injectable medicines used in hospitals daily.