Game changer: Petersburg to be home to affordable insulin manufacturing

Speakers (from left to right):

Allan Coukell is senior vice president of public policy with Civica, a nonprofit generic drug company created by U.S. health systems to manufacture quality essential medicines at sustainable prices. Coukell also leads policy for CivicaScript, the Civica affiliate created to bring down pharmacy drug costs for consumers. He previously led health programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where he created a wide-range of health initiatives. A clinical pharmacist by training, he also spent many years as a journalist.

Joy Polefrone is the executive director of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a cluster of advanced pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers in the Richmond-Petersburg region driven by an immediate and urgent need to create a reliable supply of safe, high-quality, and affordable medicines for all. Prior to joining the Alliance late last year, Polefrone worked in health innovation and entrepreneurship at VCU and VCU Health, including as director of Health Innovations at VCU’s da Vinci Center. She earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Virginia and a bachelor's of science in chemistry at James Madison University. 

Civica is nearing the completion of a 140,000-square-foot state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing facility that will produce insulin products sold at an affordable price.

Civica will make the three types of insulin (glargine, lispro, and aspart) that account for the majority of insulin used in the United States. The plant will have three manufacturing bays – a vial line capable of filling 90 million vials per year; a syringe line that will make up to 50 million pre-filled syringes; and a high-speed line for filling insulin cartridges.

The company is committed to offering its products at the lowest sustainable price. Its insulins will be available to consumers at no more than $30 per vial and $55 for five pens – approximately a 90% reduction from current list prices. The nonprofit was created in 2018 by a group of hospitals and philanthropic organizations to address high drug prices and medicine shortages.
Civica also is constructing a 50,000-square-foot laboratory at the Meadowville Technology Park in Chesterfield County to conduct quality testing and development of new products.

The Petersburg plant and the R&D facility in Chesterfield help to strengthen the advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in the Richmond-Petersburg region. Other pharmaceutical groups operate in the region including Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medicines for All, which aims to reduce the price of essential medicines, and Phlow Corp., which is building a national stockpile of drugs. The organizations along with other groups and agencies have formed a coalition called the Alliance for Building Better Medicine.