Large hospitals across the country are working to start their own generic drug company after years of facing challenges of getting medications, according to a report by The New York Times.
“This is a shot across the bow of the bad guys,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, chief executive of Intermountain Healthcare, the nonprofit Salt Lake City hospital group that is spearheading the effort. “We are not going to lay down. We are going to go ahead and try and fix it,” he said in a Times article.
The Intermountain Healthcare has faced drug shortages or sudden price hikes on off patent products.
“If they all agree to buy enough to sustain this effort, you will have a huge threat to people that are trying to manipulate the generic drug market. They will want to think twice," said Dr. Kevin A. Schulman, professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine in the article by the Times.
Dr. Schulman has studied the generic drug market and is advising the effort.
Currently, there are around 300 hospitals involved in the group to start the revolution in the drug business, with more hospitals expected to join.
Over the years, the drug industry capitalized on buying old off-patent drugs and then raising their prices, the most well known case being Martin Shkreli. In 2015, he raised the prices of an old drug known as Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet.
The creation of the new company would primarily sell to hospitals, but officials told the Times they may eventually expand to offer their products.
There are currently 220 hospitals in the state of Ohio; it is unknown if any of their networks will be involved in the group.
