Lurie Children’s Joins 10 Other Leading Children’s Hospitals and Phlow Corp. to form an Unprecedented Coalition to Deliver Essential Medicines to Address Pediatric Drug Shortages

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago today joins in announcing the launch of a groundbreaking Children’s Hospital Coalition: Powered by Phlow^TM (CHC). This first-in-kind coalition brings together some of the top children’s hospitals across the nation, in collaboration with Phlow, to provide certainty in availability and access for key medicines necessary to sustain life and conquer disease and to address the nation’s broken essential medicines supply chain.

“As Vice President of Clinical Services and Senior Director of Pharmacy Services at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, I am responsible for the professional and functional activities of several departments to assure high quality, accurate, efficient, and safe services for all our patients. To continue this commitment, I am excited to announce that Lurie Children’s will be participating in the coalition,” said Jenny Elhardary, PharmD, Lurie Children’s.

Shortages of essential medicines for children are a persistent problem plaguing hospitals across the United States. A 2019 survey of 330 U.S. hospitals, including 29 children’s hospitals, demonstrated that medicine shortages disproportionately and uniquely impact children’s hospitals. (Vizient, 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed further vulnerabilities in the overall U.S. hospital supply chain, particularly regarding essential injectable medications. To address this issue, the CHC is charged with a mission to deliver on the promise of ensuring a reliable supply of high-quality, affordable essential medicines to treat children.

Currently, the 11 founding hospital members of the CHC are: Arkansas Children’s, Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Children’s National Hospital, Children’s Wisconsin, Cincinnati Children’s, Cook Children’s, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“Far too often, the health care needs of children are not a priority. The coalition will draw attention to this important issue of shortages of essential medicines and more importantly, start to fix the problem,” said Kurt Newman, President and CEO of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. “I know we can do better for children who require these life-saving treatments and cures, and I’m proud to join this great group of organizations in developing an innovative solution.”

The coalition is working together to further escalate this issue on the national agenda, to encourage children’s hospitals to join in this cause, and educate other hospitals on how this coalition will aid in ending shortages of essential medicines. Ultimately, the goal of the CHC is to increase the resiliency and reliability of the pediatric pharmaceutical supply chain.

“Together, and alongside other top children’s hospitals across the nation and Phlow, we will work to help ensure a reliable and affordable supply of high-quality essential medicines to treat children. We aim to lead the industry as we address drug shortage challenges that effect timely treatment, healthcare costs, and national public health security," said Elhardary.

We are collaborating with the other hospitals to identify and prioritize the most needed essential medicines, including sterile injectable medicines and medications used to treat pediatric cancers and rare diseases. Phlow will work quickly to ensure a high-quality, reliable supply of these essential medicines and will provide transparent, cost-plus pricing for all coalition members under uniform long-term purchasing agreements. Through this collaboration, the CHC will work toward improving the delivery of pediatric care.

The founding members of the CHC, including Phlow, recognize that essential medicine supply is a critical problem nationwide and welcome new children’s hospital members to join in this bold initiative. Please visit www.childrenshospitalcoalition.org for more information on how to join the CHC.

About Lurie Children’s

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is ranked as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. It is the pediatric training ground for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Last year, the hospital served more than 220,000 children from 48 states and 49 countries.

About Phlow

Phlow Corp. is a trailblazing, essential medicines impact company that is reimagining essential medicines from start to finish through the use of flow chemistry. Everything Phlow does is designed to promote access to affordable, high-quality essential medicines for all Americans. Phlow provides a solution to the broken essential medicines supply chain by offering a resilient end-to-end solution that is U.S.-based, comprehensive, and fully integrated. With the support of an industry leading team, experienced strategic partners, and established relationships at the policy, regulatory, and federal levels, Phlow will manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished pharmaceutical products domestically for essential medicines critical to the nation’s healthcare. Through the use of continuous-flow technology and green chemistry, Phlow is able to reduce costs and waste, improve quality and yield, and offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to batch manufacturing.