Ever since the peak of drug shortages occurred in 2011 at a staggering rate of 267 new cases, not having the right medications has seemed like a never-ending problem for the healthcare industry. While the FDA’s late 2019 report, Drug Shortages: Root Causes and Potential Solutions, is helping to identify the root causes of the problem and offering up recommendations on how to prevent and mitigate drug shortages, the issue is far from over.

Civica Rx, a relatively new not-for-profit generic drug company, is helping to reduce and prevent drug shortages, as well as the price spikes that go along with them. The company’s mission to help make quality generic medications accessible to every patient that needs them, all at an affordable price. This could help to mitigate or prevent pain points related to drug shortages, including:

  • Delayed patient care
  • Having to use costly drug alternatives
  • Medical errors
  • Lowered patient outcomes

Currently, there are 18 Civica Rx medications either in production or being shipped out to over 1,200 hospitals across the United States. Their goal is to establish long-term partnerships with hospital systems in order to guarantee a predictable and lasting supply of critical medications to patients. Guaranteed volumes of drugs allow hospitals and clinicians to continue treating their patients without delays or having to rely on costly drug alternatives.

Civica also seeks to develop Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for generic drugs, which is the FDA’s fast-track way of approving generic drugs without needing preclinical (animal) and clinical (human) data to establish safety and effectiveness. After getting the go-ahead from the FDA, Civica will work with contract manufacturing organizations – and eventually their own manufacturing facilities – to produce Civica’s generic medications.

While the issue with drug shortages isn’t one that can be solved overnight, companies like Civica Rx can help to ease the burden on hospitals and the patients that they treat. To learn more about Civica Rx and the work that they are doing, click here.