At a cost 95 percent less than Medicare's prices, CivicaScript, a unit of nonprofit generic drug company Civica, premiered its first drug Aug. 3 with a treatment used for prostate cancer that has spread.
The abiraterone acetate 250 milligram tablets are $160 for a month's supply, and CivicaScript recommends pharmacies selling the product cap prices at $171 per bottle, according to a press release.
"This is about $3,000 per month less than the average cost for someone with Medicare Part D, the type of insurance people with prostate cancer are most likely to have," the company said.
Intermountain Healthcare, a 24-hospital system based in Salt Lake City, and Lumicera Health Services, a specialty pharmacy based in Madison, Wis., that targets medicines for chronic and serious conditions, will be the first suppliers of the drug as CivicaScript waits for more buyers.
Civica, a Lehi, Utah-based company, opened in 2018 and said it would buy drugs from pharmaceutical companies before reversing its decision in 2020 and inking a deal to develop and manufacture its own drugs. Future projects include its pioneering into the insulin market as it builds its Petersburg, Va., facility and tests its three insulin biosimilars.
Editor's note: The first sentence was edited to clarify the drug is the first for CivivaScript, a part of Civica.