Excellus BCBS working with Civica on the distribution of “affordable” insulin

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Excellus BCBS) recently announced it has joined Civica’s effort to manufacture and distribute “affordable” insulins.

Once approved, they’ll be available to people living with diabetes at “significantly lower” prices than insulins currently on the market.

Besides Excellus BCBS, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), and other Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies have joined the Civica initiative. Lehi, Utah–based Civica Rx is a nonprofit pharmaceutical manufacturer, per its LinkedIn page.

The companies expect the medications to be available to all consumers for $30 or less per vial starting in 2024.

Excellus BCBS, BCBSA and BCBS companies are collaborating on this initiative with Civica and other partners across the health-care industry, “representing nearly every corner of the diabetes ecosystem,” per an Excellus news release.

“The Civica initiative will help us fulfill our critical role of controlling rising health-care costs while also ensuring that more patients take their medication as prescribed since their prescription drugs will now be more affordable,” Mona Chitre, chief pharmacy officer and VP of integrated health strategy for Excellus BCBS, said.

More than 8 million Americans rely on insulin to live, but as many as one in four insulin users report having to skip doses or take less than prescribed amounts due to the medicine’s high cost, Excellus said, citing a January 2019 report from JAMA, or the Journal of the American Medical Association. The financial burden has made the drug “inaccessible for many” and has led to patients developing health conditions that were “once preventable,” the health insurer added.

Through this initiative, Civica will manufacture and distribute three analog insulins — glargine, lispro and aspart — which will be biosimilar drugs of the brand-name insulins Lantus, Humalog and Novolog. The insulins will be available in vials and prefilled pens at no more than $30 per vial or $55 for a box of five pens, Excellus said.

The insulin initiative is “one of the many ways” BCBS companies are working with Civica to increase access to “safe and affordable” medications.

This announcement follows the founding of Civica’s subsidiary — CivicaScript — by BCBSA, 18 BCBS companies, and Civica Rx to develop and manufacture common generic medications for which the market currently does not have enough competition to drive down prices.

The first of these lower-cost generic prescriptions are expected to be available to consumers through specialty and home delivery pharmacies later this year, Excellus said.