Civica Rx, the nonprofit drug company formed by a collection of hospitals to help control generic drug supplies and prices, is putting down roots.
On April 19, officials announced that Civica had established a new headquarters at 2912 Executive Parkway in Lehi, Utah. The location is not far from Salt Lake City, where Intermountain Healthcare—which spearheaded the idea to create Civica Rx—is based.
The organization has since drawn interest from more than 800 hospitals, representing 180,000 — or 25% — of the nation's licensed beds.
RELATED: Civica Rx's first CEO, Martin VanTrieste, talks about the company's ambitions for 2019 and beyond
Today's opening of @CivicaRx's Utah headquarters in Lehi is a milestone in the effort to reduce chronic drug shortages in healthcare institutions across the country. #strongertogether pic.twitter.com/vauVr8AqTH
— Intermountain (@Intermountain) April 18, 2019
Lehi is a region that has been referred to as the "Silicon Slopes" because it is located among Utah's largest universities, officials said. An online real estate listing shows the property is in an approximately 100,000-square-foot Class A building built in 2006. It is located about a 30-minute drive from the Salt Lake City Airport and is adjacent to commuter rail.
The office will house about 40 people with expansion opportunities to grow talent up to five times that size over three years, officials said.
“Together we celebrate the reason why Civica Rx exists, in purpose and in brick and mortar, and that is to do what is in the best interest of patients by stabilizing the supply of generic medications,” said Martin VanTrieste, Civica Rx CEO, in a statement. “Drug shortages strain hospital staff, lead to delayed surgeries and sub-optimal treatments for patients, and can lead to unpredictable price increases that result in budgetary instability in hospitals.”
Civica has not yet disclosed its planned product list, but VanTrieste has said the company is focused on drugs that are often on the FDA shortage list as well as on hospital-based medicines, which are mostly sterile injectables. He said the company has committed to producing 14 drugs in 2019.
VanTrieste has previously said the company plans first to work with generic drugmakers that already have an approved license and are seeking certainty in their manufacturing process. But Civica also has a research and development team, and plans to begin working on generics and filing for licenses with the FDA itself before taking those drugs to contract manufacturers. Finally, the company plans to build its own manufacturing capacity.