Anthem and drugmaker Catalent are joining Civica Rx's business arm dedicated to lowering the cost of certain generic drugs.
Anthem joins the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) at the newly named CivicaScript, which will initially focus on manufacturing six to 10 common but pricey generics for sale at pharmacies. The company said in an announcement (PDF) that these drugs don't currently face enough market competition to drive down their prices.
Taken together, the insurers backing CivicaScript represent 100 million covered lives. Gina Guinasso, president of CivicaScript, told Fierce Healthcare that the team will operate independently from the Civica Rx team with its focus on outpatient drugs and costs at the pharmacy counter.
Civica Rx was first launched in 2018 and is backed by some of the country's largest health systems as a way to address challenges with the supply and cost of frequently used drugs in hospitals. BCBSA signed on to launch what is now CivicaScript in early 2020.
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"Part of what we want to make sure gets out there about CivicaScript is that we do want this to be a very broad initiative," Guinasso said.
CivicaScript said in Wednesday's announcement that it would welcome further payer and provider partners to sign on with the growing company. On the Civica Rx side, more than 50 health systems have joined up, representing 1,400 facilities and more than one-third of the country's beds.
Catalent, which develops and manufactures drugs and health products globally, will develop a range of generic abbreviated new drug applications for CivicaScripts, with production taking place at two of its oral solid facilities in New Jersey and Kentucky.
Generics make up the vast majority of prescription fills, some 90%, and cost can prevent access to these drugs for some patients, Civica said.
The products the company will focus on initially were not disclosed, but Guinasso said the team is actively working to determine those products and that development has begun on some of its launches.
That Guinasso was joining the company to lead CivicaScripts was also announced alongside the new partnerships. Guinasso comes from OptumRx, where she served as the senior vice president of commercial and Medicare formulary strategy.
She also brings prior experience from federal and state policy, reimbursement and payer account management at Takeda Oncology, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Acorda Therapeutics.
She said the passion of the team in addressing challenges around drug costs "sealed the deal" in her decision to join the company.
"In meeting the team, they're just phenomenal," she said. "They just really knocked it out of the park."