Civica Rx, a nonprofit organization created in 2018 to address the problem of chronic drug shortages, said it now consists of 1,200 hospitals and is contracted to supply 40 different medications.
The organization, which is celebrating its two-year anniversary this month, said it has delivered over 11 million vials of drugs, more than 9 million of them to patients and about 2 million to the federal stockpile to help combat drug shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"COVID-19 is a defining moment as Civica, our supply partners and hospital pharmacists and doctors work together to meet spikes in demand for medications for COVID patients," said Martin VanTrieste, president and CEO of Civica. "Because the Civica model includes building stockpiles or safety stocks, we have been able to meet demand in hospitals and also provide millions of doses of medicines to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile."
Civica said it now includes 50 health systems and serves over 30 percent of all hospital beds in the U.S. Oakland, Calif-based Kaiser Permanente was the latest health system to join Civica in June.
Civica said it plans to have 100 medications available by 2023.
"Without the ready supply of critical medications from Civica, crucial therapies for our patients could have been compromised during the worst possible time at the epicenter of the pandemic," said Mark Pollard, vice president of professional services at New York City's NYU Langone Health.