Help yourself
American hospitals will be engaged in the production of medicines themselves
Julia Korowski, XX2 century
"If you want to do something well, do it yourself," the heads of American hospitals decided. And, tired of the shortage of some vital medicines and the rise in prices for others, they established their own company for the production of drugs. The non-profit organization Civica Rx will make cheap generics and sell them to clinics. It is run by a retired pharmacist who does not take money for his work.
In recent years, American hospitals have been facing a sharp rise in prices, and even old drugs are under attack. In such cases, not only medicines are expensive, but also the time that the staff spends on the selection of alternative options, revision of treatment protocols, etc. To this is added a shortage of medicines. It is especially inconvenient for network clinics with branches in different states: in one, for example, morphine may be in excess, but there is no fentanyl, in the other – on the contrary. In general, hospital managers are pretty tired of the logistical hell and budget juggling. So much so that they decided to take the situation into their own hands.
"We are trying to do the right thing – to create a first–of-its-kind social asset with the sole purpose of making sure that vital generics are cheap and accessible to everyone," says the chairman of the board of the new NGO Civica Rx. In essence, Civica Rx is an alliance of five hundred hospitals and several charitable organizations. Each medical institution participating in the project nominates its representative, who will join the board of directors, and provides a certain amount. At the moment, the Civica Rx has collected $ 100 million in this way. The company's business model is simple: hospitals sign a long-term contact and commit to buying a certain part of medicines from Civica Rx. The head of the NGO is a former employee of the pharmaceutical industry, Martin Van Trieste. Before that, he worked for the huge Amgen corporation, and took up a new company after retiring. Van Trieste insisted that he would not receive a salary: the money saved in this way would go to the needs of the Civica Rx.
The NGO is going to start releasing 14 generics, however, their names have not yet been disclosed. It is expected that the list will be published later, and the first drugs will enter the market next year. Their production will be handled by third-party firms that have proven themselves in the industry. However, if the partners for some reason are unable or unwilling to release the necessary medicine, Civica Rx are ready to take up the production of generics themselves. The company's future growth depends on the market reaction, Van Trieste notes. "We want the market to work and take care of itself, so if the appearance of Civica with 14 drugs – and the fact that we can do more pretty quickly – makes the market work better, we probably won't be able to grow," he says. "But if the market is "broken" and it will not be possible to "fix" it with the production of 14 drugs," the company may expand.
While no one will say exactly how successful this enterprise will be. But we will be watching with great interest. Perhaps Civica will become very successful, and this model will become an alternative to the usual pharmaceutical industry and an example to follow around the world – who knows? "If we do nothing, there is a risk that we will continue to face price increases and shortages," says the head of the Providence St. clinic network. Joseph Health Amy Compton-Phillips. "It seems to me that doing nothing, we risk more than if we try to find a creative solution to the problem."
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