US Hospitals Plan to Develop Not-for-profit Generic-Drug Company

Intermountain Healthcare, a not-for-profit health system, has partnered with several similar health systems— Ascension, SSM Health, and Trinity Health—in consultation with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, to form a new, not-for-profit generic-drug company.

The five organizations represent more than 450 hospitals around the US. “Other health systems will soon be joining this not-for-profit initiative, which will make essential generic medications more available and more affordable, bringing healthy competition to the market for generic drugs,” said Intermountain Healthcare in a company release.

The new company intends to be an FDA-approved manufacturer and will either directly manufacture generic drugs or sub-contract manufacturing to contract manufacturing organizations. The company will also seek to stabilize the supply of essential generic medications administered in hospitals. The new initiative is expected to result in lower costs and more predictable supplies of essential generic medicines.

The formation of the new not-for-profit generic drug company will be guided by an advisory committee that includes experts from the pharmaceutical industry, business, and government. In addition to senior-level leaders from the organizations founding the company, the committee will include: Madhu Balachandran, retired executive vice president of global operations, Amgen; Don Berwick, MD, president emeritus and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former administrator with the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Clayton Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School and founder of Innosight, a management-consulting firm; Bob Kerrey, managing director, Allen & Company as well as former Nebraska governor, US senator, and pharmacist; and Martin VanTrieste, retired senior vice president and chief quality officer, Amgen.

Source: Intermountain Healthcare

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