Civica Rx at a year old strikes new deal for meds in short supply

Civica Rx, which last week hit its first anniversary, continues to strike deals that will help it to battle shortages and high costs for its healthcare members. 

The latest is an agreement with Exela Pharma Sciences to provide sodium bicarbonate, a drug that healthcare providers have had some trouble getting in recent years, to hospitals in the U.S. 

“Sodium bicarbonate is a medicine that is a staple on hospital crash carts and often used for emergency resuscitations. No hospital or patient should ever have to go without it,” Civica Rx CEO Martin VanTrieste said in a statement

Civica Rx was created last September by healthcare groups to help hospitals, which have battled drug shortages and price hikes for years. The supply interruptions sometimes force hospitals to ration drugs or make decisions on which patients get certain drugs.

Since being formed, it has struck deals to provide products with a number of contractors including Hikma for more than a dozen injectables and Xellia Pharmaceuticals to produce antibiotics.