Premier, Inc. Joins the End Drug Shortages Alliance

CHARLOTTE, N.C., November 14, 2023 – Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading technology-enabled healthcare improvement company, announced today it has joined the End Drug Shortages Alliance, a coalition of diverse stakeholders to address drug shortages in the United States. The Alliance provides a forum for key stakeholders to take strategic aim at one of healthcare’s more pressing and enduring issues: drug shortages that disrupt patient care.

“Together with our members, Premier is working to create healthier pharmaceutical markets that ensure continuous access and prevent shortages that can compromise patient care,” said Jessica Daley, Premier’s Group Vice President of Strategic Sourcing. “The End Drug Shortages Alliance’s work aligns with that vision and provides us with another forum where we can work across the supply chain to develop solutions designed to remediate a long-standing and pervasive problem in healthcare.

The End Drug Shortages Alliance was launched in late 2021 to bring together industry stakeholders, including providers, group purchasing organizations, manufacturers, distributors and other industry thought leaders and champions. Efforts will focus on improving access to medications through greater transparency across market participants, leading to improved quality manufacturing of medications and production of additional supply.

For more than two decades, Premier and its members have been leaders in preventing and resolving drug shortages. Through commitment and aggregated demand, Premier’s drug shortage programs give manufacturers proper demand signaling, predictable revenue and the surety needed to ramp up and maintain production. As a result of Premier’s innovations, the company has successfully contributed to the resolution of 15 drug shortages, resulting in their removal from the FDA shortage list.

In addition, Premier has focused on incenting greater domestic and diverse manufacturing in the market, making strategic investments in companies such as VGYAAN Pharmaceuticals and Exela Pharma Sciences. Combined, these investments are working to bring new sources of competition for 20 different shortage drugs and counting.  

"We are grateful to have Premier, Inc. join the alliance to end drug shortages," said Eric Tichy, division chair of pharmacy supply solutions for Mayo Clinic, who serves as the Chair for the Alliance advisory board. "Collaboration among organizations strengthens our ability to improve the quality of life for patients that rely on these medications. Together, we can make a difference."

About End Drug Shortages Alliance

The End Drug Shortages Alliance (EDSA) is a collaboration of health systems, supply chain, and industry stakeholders including group purchasing organizations, manufacturers, distributors, and other industry thought leaders dedicated to solving the pharmaceutical supply challenges that disrupt access to essential medications in the United States. EDSA prioritizes initiatives focused on transparency, quality, redundancy, and production of additional supply to achieve undisrupted access to essential medications for health care providers and patients. Learn more at www.EndDrugShortages.com.