Hospital groups launch own company to make generic drugs
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Several main hospital groups Thursday launched their own generic drug company to sort out persistent shortages and excessive costs.
The new company, Civica Rx, plans to start with 14 extensively used hospital drugs lengthy briefly provide. The company is not disclosing the drugs’ names for competitive causes, however they embrace a mixture of generic drugs, patches and injectable drugs for treating infections, ache and coronary heart situations, board chairman Dan Liljenquist mentioned.
“The mission of Civica is to make sure these drugs remain in the public domain, that they’re available and affordable to everyone,” he mentioned.
Drug shortages have been widespread for greater than a decade, notably for cheap generic drugs, due to producers consolidating, stopping manufacturing of low-profit medicines and having to repair manufacturing issues.
Hospitals are notably exhausting hit and ceaselessly should scramble to discover scarce medicines, usually at big value markups, or give you workarounds that is probably not as efficient or protected for sufferers.
Besides making a dependable provide for its 500 hospitals, Civica goals to cut back drug costs by about 20 p.c. The drugs will probably be offered to nonmember hospitals as nicely, at barely increased costs, Liljenquist mentioned.
The company, based mostly within the Salt Lake City space, plans to make a number of the generics itself and rent firms to produce others, he mentioned. It is aiming to get its first medicines in the marketplace by mid- to late 2019.
Civica was based and funded by three health foundations and 7 hospital groups, amongst them Intermountain Healthcare, a 23-hospital system based mostly in Salt Lake City the place Liljenquist is chief technique officer. Veterans Affairs and the American Hospital Association are also taking part.
Chief government of the not-for-profit company will probably be Martin VanTrieste, the retired head of producing high quality at biotech drugmaker Amgen.
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