Former OptumRx executive, Gina Guinasso, J.D., is president of the newly named retail venture.
Civica Rx, founded in 2018 as a nonprofit supplier of generic drugs to hospitals, announced today that it was expanding its fledging retail generics business to include a partnership with Anthem and has officially named the retail subsidiary CivicaScript.
Gina Guinasso
The company also announced that Gina Guinasso, J.D., has been named president of CivicaScript. Prior to CivicaScript, Guinasso had been senior vice president of commercial and Medicare formulary strategy for OptumRx, the UnitedHealth Group’s PBM. Her LinkedIn page says she started at CivicaScript in May.
This morning’s press release also announced that Civica Rx has entered into a long-term partnership with Catalent, a drug development and manufacturing company headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey.
Civica announced last year that it was branching out from its hospital business into the retail market in partnership with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and 17 Blues plans. But today's news elevates the profile of the subsidiary and may foreshadow it becoming a disruptive force in the generics market. With the addition of Anthem, the CivicaScript subsidiary will have insurance partners that cover about 100 million lives.
The press release says that CivicaScript will start by developing and manufacturing six to 10 common, high-priced generics and that they will be available as early as 2022 through retail and mail-order pharmacies. “Using a cost-plus and price transparent model, CivicaScript … plans to innovate and further transform the supply chain to lower the cost of prescription medicines,” the press release says..
The announcement says all of Civica Rx’s hospital system members will have access to the retail medications manufactured by the newly named subsidiary. More than 50 hospital systems that comprise 1,400 hospitals are Civica Rx members.
Catalent will develop a range of CivicaScript-owned generic Abbreviated New Drug Applications, according to he press release, and production will take place at the company’s facilities in Somerset and in Winchester, Kentucky.
“We are delighted to welcome our newest partners and our new CivicaScript president, Gina Guinasso, a nationally revered managed healthcare executive,” Martin VanTrieste, Civica Rx’s president and CEO, said in the press release.
Civica Rx was a founded by seven health systems (CommonSpirit Health, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Providence St. Joseph Health, SSM Health and Trinity Health) and three philanthropies (the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Gary and Mary West Foundation). Kaiser Permanente and Memorial Hermann Health have since joined these organizations on its board of directors.
Optimize Your Healthcare Payments with Optum Financial
April 29th 2025Discover how Optum Financial is revolutionizing healthcare payments in our latest whitepaper. Learn how transitioning to electronic payments can reduce administrative costs, streamline claims processing and enhance security.
Read More
Conversations With Perry and Friends
April 14th 2025Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial advisory board, is host of the Conversations with Perry and Friends podcast. His guest this episode is John Baackes, the former CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan.
Listen
Healthcare hasn't been a priority of the second Trump administration so far, panelists at the Asembia agreed. Medicaid may loom large, though, as the administration and congressional Republicans look for ways to slash government spending as a way of offsetting major tax cuts.
Read More
Breaking Down Health Plans, HSAs, AI With Paul Fronstin of EBRI
November 19th 2024Featured in this latest episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite podcast is Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at EBRI, who shed light on the evolving landscape of health benefits with editors of Managed Healthcare Executive.
Listen
What 5 Managed Care Trends Experts Say You’re Not Watching Closely Enough
April 29th 2025Managed Healthcare Executive asked several experts in healthcare and managed care to share the trends they think the industry is overlooking. From rising costs and data challenges to shifts in how care is delivered, these are the issues that could have a major impact — and deserve a closer look.
Read More