Sanford Health receives first medication from Civica Rx
Contact:
Christen Rennich
Sanford Health Media Relations
701-200-6080 / christen.rennich@sanfordhealth.org
SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Jan. 20, 2020 — Sanford Health announced today that its main medical centers have received their first medication shipment from Civica Rx. The company is a collaboration among three philanthropies and more than 45 health systems representing over 1,200 hospitals in 46 states.
Patients at Sanford Health’s medical centers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Fargo and Bismarck, North Dakota; and Bemidji, Minnesota, will begin receiving Vancomycin Hydrochloride for injection supplied through Civica Rx this week.
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This is the first medication Civica Rx has supplied to its members. In January 2019, Sanford Health joined Civica Rx as one of the 12 founding health care system members of the nonprofit drug company. The company was created in 2018 to lower costs and provide more predictable supplies of many medications, helping to ensure patients and their needs come first in the generic drug marketplace.
Also this week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies announced they will provide $55 million to help create a Civica subsidiary dedicated to lowering the cost of select generic drugs.
Vancomycin is an essential antibiotic that has often been in short supply at thousands of hospitals across the country. It is used for serious infections caused by bacteria that are resistant to certain other antibiotics, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Vancomycin can treat infections throughout the body including pneumonia, cellulitis, septicemia, osteomyelitis and endocarditis. In 2019, Sanford Health administered more than 71,226 doses of Vancomycin.
Civica Rx goal: Accessibility
“The goal is to make generic medicines accessible and affordable,” said Dr. Joshua Crabtree, vice president of Sanford Clinic in Sioux Falls. “Sanford Health’s membership will help ensure our locations can continue to provide vital medications for our patients. This first shipment of Vancomycin is the first step in our efforts to impact the national drug shortage crisis that affects all aspects of health care and the patients we serve.”
These first deliveries are expected to be followed by up to 17 other Civica Rx medications in production this year. Supplier partners are Xellia Pharmaceuticals, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Exela Pharma Sciences.
“These deliveries demonstrate the Civica model in action and are 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 health care. 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.”
Current Civica membership accounts for 213,000 licensed beds — 30% of the hospital beds in the United States.
Help patients, lower costs
Jesse Breidenbach, senior director of Sanford Health’s pharmacy, said the organization joined Civica to try to take back control, lower prices and help patients.
“We work hard to minimize how drug shortages and cost fluctuations affect patients. At some point you have to say, rather than wait for someone to change it, we’ll do it ourselves. We have had success at controlling these factors. But, when the cost for a drug goes up 1,000% overnight, we had to find a better way,” he said.
There are two basic targets for Civica, according to Breidenbach:
- Profiteering that happens when there’s a single source for the generic product
- Complete lack of availability of certain medications
Often, current market situations don’t support multiple manufacturers of certain generic medications, he said. In these situations, even when multiple manufacturers can produce a critical generic drug, many factors affect their ability or desire to do so.
One issue has been a sustainable price that supports actual costs of manufacturing a product.
“What we have seen is that some generic manufacturers are willing to drop prices temporarily and long enough to force other manufacturers out of a market for a certain drug. They subsequently raised prices after becoming the sole source for that drug,” Breidenbach said.
The issues have created generic drug sourcing challenges for hospitals over the past five to 10 years.
“The most important premise of Civica is the guaranteed demand of products at a price that is affordable,” Breidenbach said.
About Sanford Health
Sanford Health, one of the largest health systems in the United States, is dedicated to the integrated delivery of health care, genomic medicine, senior care and services, global clinics, research and affordable insurance. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization includes 44 hospitals, 1,400 physicians and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and nine countries. Nearly $1 billion in gifts from philanthropist Denny Sanford have transformed how Sanford Health improves the human condition.
