Intermountain, SSM, Ascension and Trinity Health to launch generic drug company

Four health systems from across the country plan to form a nonprofit generic drug company to address the high costs and shortages of generic medications.

Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare is leading the collaboration with St. Louis-based Ascension; Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health; and St. Louis-based SSM Health. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is also involved in the hospital venture but has provided no financial support for the project.

The organizations aim to expand the availability and affordability of essential generic medications and believe their new company will serve as a competitive threat to generic drugmakers.

"It's an ambitious plan, but healthcare systems are in the best position to fix the problems in the generic drug market," said Marc Harrison, MD, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare said in a statement. "We witness, on a daily basis, how shortages of essential generic medications or egregious cost increases for those same drugs affect our patients. We are confident we can improve the situation for our patients by bringing much needed competition to the generic drug market."

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