NEW YORK — The Peterson Center on Healthcare, a founding partner and governing member of Civica Rx, announced today $5 million of new funding to support an innovative effort to create low-cost insulin, aimed at ensuring that millions of Americans can afford and access the life-saving drug.

Civica will manufacture and distribute three low-cost biosimilar insulin options to enable anyone to purchase insulin at no more than $30 per vial and $55 per box of five pens, regardless of insurance status. According to JDRF, a partner in this initiative, insulin can cost between $175 and $300 a vial and up to $1,000 a month, and studies show that these inflated costs can cause up to one-quarter of people with insulin-dependent diabetes to skip or ration their insulin, potentially leading to medical emergencies, severe complications, or death.

“Far too often, life-saving medications like insulin are unaffordable or unavailable, tragically burdening millions of Americans,” said Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which established the Peterson Center on Healthcare. “Civica’s transformative effort will help ensure that patients can get the medicine they need, while also improving the performance and sustainability of our nation’s healthcare system.”

The rising cost of drugs has contributed to a surge in U.S. healthcare costs, which just reached a record-high 20% of GDP, with per-capita spending at nearly three-times the average of other developed countries. Civica’s insulin initiative will curb costs for patients, taxpayers and the federal government, and its replication on a national scale can help strengthen the federal budget outlook and the safety net, including essential programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Civica’s high-quality, low-cost insulins will be manufactured at its state-of-the-art, 140,000 square-foot manufacturing plant, being built in Petersburg, Virginia. That facility, which will be operational in the first quarter of 2024, will have the capacity to produce a substantial amount of the insulin needed in the United States, with additional space to increase production if necessary. Contingent on FDA approval, Civica anticipates that the first insulin (glargine) will be available for purchase as soon as early 2024.

For more information on this initiative, including commentary from partners and a fact sheet, visit www.civicainsulin.org.

About Civica

Civica, Inc. (Civica, Civica Rx) is a nonprofit generic pharmaceutical company. Civica was created by hospital systems and philanthropies in 2018 to reduce and prevent chronic drug shortages in hospitals and the unpredictable price spikes that often accompany them. Its mission is to make quality generic medicines accessible and affordable to everyone.

Today Civica is governed by leading hospital systems (CommonSpirit Health, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Memorial Hermann, Providence, SSM Health, and Trinity Health), representatives of the payer community (Blue Cross of Idaho and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association), and philanthropies committed to improving healthcare (Gary and Mary West Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and Peterson Center on Healthcare).

Hospital advisors — doctors and pharmacists — prioritize the essential medicines Civica provides for use in acute and critical care, emergency rooms, and surgery.

Civica by the Numbers

• Civica provides approximately 60 generic sterile injectable medicines in various dosage forms to over 55 hospital systems, representing more than 1,500 hospitals and one-third of all licensed hospital beds in the United States (Civica also supplies the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Defense).
• To date, Civica has provided over 70 million vials or syringes of essential generic medications to hospitals, which have been used to treat more than 28 million patients.
• Eleven Civica medications have been used to help care for COVID-19 patients, including neuromuscular blocking agents, sedatives, pain management medications, and blood thinners. Civica and its supply partners met surge hospital demand of up to 400 percent for some medications during COVID-19 and provided 2.1 million vials to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.
• Civica is building a 140,000 square-foot sterile injectable manufacturing facility in Petersburg, Virginia. The Civica finished dosage (vials and pre-filled syringes) manufacturing plant will include disposable technology and advanced technology filling lines to produce 90 million vials and 50 million pre-filled syringes a year (enough to meet the demands of approximately 50 million patients a year). The facility, expected to be operational in early 2024, is being built to accommodate future growth as well, and will be the future home of Civica Insulin.
• Learn more at www.civicarx.org.

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