North Mississippi Health Services, On Demand Pharmaceuticals
Join Forces to Fight Drug Shortage
TUPELO, Mississippi—North Mississippi Health Services announced a partnership today to address the drug shortage problem in north Mississippi by transforming how the hospital gets medicine.
Nine out of 10 prescription medications taken by Americans are generics. Eighty-five percent of these generic medications are vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions if trade with India, China or Japan were interrupted. The cost of mitigating drug shortages at American hospitals is in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Because of this, NMHS is partnering with On Demand Pharmaceuticals (ODP), an innovative technology company, so that medicines can be produced on demand—whenever and wherever they are needed.
ODP’s breakthrough technology platform—the Shortage Response Pharmacy on Demand (or “SR-PoD”)—is designed to respond rapidly to the ever-changing drug shortage situation.
“North Mississippi Health Services is extremely excited about its partnership with On Demand Pharmaceuticals to launch ODP’s revolutionary approach to ensuring the availability of shortage drugs for our community,” said Shane Spees, NMHS president and chief executive officer. “As the first beta testing site in the country, NMHS will soon have the capability to produce shortage medicines ‘on the spot!’ Having an on-demand shortage response capability will allow us to optimize our patients’ care by always using the right medicine, and minimize the time and expense associated with navigating around perennial shortages and associated price hikes. ODP has found an amazing way to solve our nation’s injectable shortage challenge by bringing the latest technology and quality systems to any local setting, starting with NMMC. ODP’s approach is just one of many steps we’re taking to redesign the health care model.”
“As of this moment, there are hundreds of everyday drugs hospitals need to care for patients from fighting simple infections to critical medications used in childbirth that are in dangerously short supply. It is vital that we continue to develop domestic resiliency to prepare for this growing need and whatever the future may hold as access to international supply faces growing uncertainty,” said ODP chief executive officer Rear Admiral James Hancock, MD, U.S. Navy retired. “On Demand Pharmaceuticals is working to provide safe, agile and high-quality solutions to these problems in a way that no one else in the U.S. is doing, and we are honored to be partnering with NMHS to roll out our system here to support their mission of serving this community.”
