Fierce Pharma Fierce Biotech Fierce Healthcare Fierce Life Sciences Events Advertise About Us Providers Hospitals Practices Retail Health Tech AI and Machine Learning Digital Health Telehealth Payers Regulatory Finance Special Reports Fierce 50 Special Report Awards Gala Resources Webinars Fierce Events Industry Events Podcasts Survey Whitepapers Events Subscribe Subscribe Providers Hospitals Practices Retail Health Tech AI and Machine Learning Digital Health Telehealth Payers Regulatory Finance Special Reports Fierce 50 Special Report Awards Gala Resources Webinars Fierce Events Industry Events Podcasts Survey Whitepapers Events Subscribe Fierce Pharma Fierce Biotech Fierce Healthcare Fierce Life Sciences Events Advertise About Us Hospitals Latest generic drug deal puts hospital-owned Civica Rx ahead of schedule By Tina Reed Jul 23, 2019 2:11pm Drug Prices Generic drugs Healthcare Costs Hospital Impact Civica Rx, the nonprofit generics company launched last year by hospitals looking to prevent drug shortages, is ahead of schedule with planned production of new drugs. The company inked a deal with London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals to get 14 essential sterile injectable medications into hospitals by the end of this year, it announced Tuesday. That comes after the company announced in May that it signed a five-year deal with Copenhagen-based Xellia Pharmaceuticals to make the broad-spectrum antibiotics vancomycin and daptomycin by the third quarter of this year. Civica did not disclose publicly which drugs they will begin producing for "competitive" reasons but said they are medicines used daily by hospitals in emergency care, surgery, pain management and in treating hypertension. The company previously said it planned to have 14 drugs in production by the end of the year. "We are beating what we said, so that is a good feeling," Martin VanTrieste, president and CEO of Civica Rx, told FierceHealthcare. More than 30 health systems are Civica members, representing 900 U.S. hospitals and 30% of U.S. licensed beds. Its Hikma deal is with a growing portfolio of more than 100 injectable products. Under the agreement, Hikma—the third-largest U.S. supplier of generic injectable medicines—will serve as a private label distributor using Hikma's abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs). They will use Civica's labeling and national drug code.RELATED: Civica Rx's first CEO, Martin Van Trieste, talks about the company's ambitions for 2019 and beyond Since 2016, Hikma has launched 20 medications into U.S. shortage situations and received a Drug Shortage Assistance Award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its role in preventing or alleviating drug shortages, officials said. "Hikma is thrilled to be partnering with Civica to reduce drug shortages, and we share their commitment to providing hospitals and doctors with a steady and reliable supply of high-quality injectable medicines needed for successful patient care," said Daniel Motto, Hikma's executive vice president of commercial and business development for U.S. injectables, in a statement. "We are privileged to be working with Civica and we appreciate their five-year commitment to guaranteed demand and fair and sustainable pricing, which supports more effective production planning and long-term investments in manufacturing," Riad Mishlawi, president of Hikma Injectables, said in a statement. "We believe Hikma's size and scale, broad portfolio of medicines and robust pipeline across growing therapeutic areas will enable us to build on this partnership in the future. We are committed to working with Civica and all of our customers as a reliable partner, capable of serving the growing needs of U.S. hospitals and clinics for a wide range of essential medicines." Looking ahead Looking into 2020, VanTrieste said suppliers have been continuing to come forward and express interest in working with Civica. "This will only accelerate that process showing that we can be successful to do that," he said. He said the company is working on all three parts of its manufacturing strategy. Its research and development team continues to file its own data sets with the FDA for future ANDAs, and the company is also working on negotiations with contract research manufacturers and contract development organizations. Planned announcements are coming in the near future, VanTrieste said. The company is also in active discussions to build a new manufacturing plant. The final decision on where the manufacturing facility will be located has not yet been made, but will center around the availability of talent, accessibility to distribution networks and access to airports and other resources. The company is looking at some partnership options where other companies are willing to let Civica use their land to build a manufacturing facility. In April, the company moved into a new headquarters in Lehi, Utah. The company has 16 employees and plans to add individuals as needed, VanTrieste said. RELATED: 'First of its kind' hospital-led generic drug company Civica Rx aims to address shortages, high prices He said he expects to continue seeing steady growth in the number of member hospitals that are part of Civica, because he continues to field several inquiries a day and is currently in the process of getting contracts signed with several health systems. "It continues to build credibility for the company with, not just the suppliers but with our members. When we make this kind of announcement saying—we're going to do 14 more, here's where we are—we get more interest from potential members," VanTrieste said. He generally tells member hospitals that pay for access to Civica's bundle of drugs to expect to save between 35% and 50% of those drug costs. Those who pay for access to individual drugs may see a 100% decrease or no drop in price at all depending on the drug. VanTrieste said member hospitals have indicated seeing a difference throughout the generics market since the emergence of Civica. "They tell us that there are clearly players in the marketplace who are nervous about what we're doing and they're talking differently than they did before," VanTrieste said. "They view us as competition and they try to take competitive responses, making promises on availability and promises on price." But to really have a concrete impact on the marketplace, VanTrieste said the company estimates it would need to produce between 50 and 100 drugs, work that would likely take about five years, he said. There are 287 drugs on the drug shortage list this week, VanTrieste said. "This is not a short-term endeavor," he said. "Developing drugs is not easy." Drug Prices Generic drugs Healthcare Costs Hospital Impact Civica Rx Martin VanTrieste Finance
