In 2018, the Peterson Center on Healthcare joined with two other leading healthcare philanthropies as a founding philanthropic partner of Civica Rx, along with seven U.S. hospital systems representing more than 500 facilities. Civica Rx manufactures generic, injectable drugs to address critical risks posed to patients from chronic shortages and rising prices of life-saving medications.

Civica Rx was organized to remedy a chronic market failure in the supply chain of generic drugs that hospitals and their patients depend on. For decades, hospitals had struggled with ubiquitous shortages of life-saving drugs that are required to perform operations and protect patients from infections.

As members of the Civica board of directors, the Center supports the company’s non-profit, social welfare mission to provide affordable, essential generic drugs and ensure a predictable supply and competitive marketplace.

In its first five years, Civica Rx provided over 70 million vials or syringes of almost 65 essential generic medications to hospitals, which have been used to treat more than 45 million patients. Its newest partnership with the state of California will allow the company to produce insulin biosimilars, which Californians can purchase at an expected cost of $30 per vial—a significant savings for many patients living with diabetes.

Civica Rx has expanded its mission to reach individuals and families buying generic prescriptions in pharmacies. Through a partnership with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and 18 independent and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, Civica Rx launched a subsidiary dedicated to lowering the cost of select generic drugs for consumers.

Other health plans, employers, retail partners and healthcare innovators who share the belief that patients and their needs come first are invited to join the initiative.