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Newsom’s $100 million San Diego insulin give-away stalls
KPBS seems to be in the clover
A drive by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make low-cost insulin by spending $100 million in state funds has stalled.
Newsom’s insulin fail
A drive by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make low-cost insulin by spending $100 million in state funds has stalled, dashing the hopes of the well-heeled San Diego charity behind the project, which would ostensibly have provided a non-profit alternative to costly drugs from commercial pharmaceutical companies. “This is a big deal, folks. This is not happening anywhere else in the United States,” Newsom said in his 2023 State of the State speech, per a January 15 account by CalMatters. “This fundamentally lowers the cost, period, full stop.” Citing that effort, last October Newsom vetoed a bill to impose a $35 monthly insulin co-pay cap, the story says. In his veto message, the governor asserted that his state-sponsored drug making plan was “getting at the underlying cost, which is the true sustainable solution to high-cost pharmaceuticals. With co-pay caps however, the long-term costs are still passed down to consumers through higher premiums from health plans.”
Gavin Newsom: he wants to help, but it may take a while.
Since then, though, Newsom’s drug making project has fallen “behind the schedule he announced and unlikely to make it to market for several years, industry experts say,” according to CalMatters. “Civica, Inc., the nonprofit drug manufacturer contracted to produce insulin for California, has not started clinical trials or applied for approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration, both of which are likely to take more than a year to complete.”
The troubled saga began back in 2018, with the formation of Civica Rx, ‘the nation’s first nonprofit generic drug company,” according to the website of its key founder, San Diego’s Gary and Mary West Foundation. Civica’s 10-year, $50 million deal with Newsom was done five years later. “California made history today by partnering with Civica Rx, the nation’s first nonprofit generic pharmaceutical company, to produce affordable insulin for residents in need,” Shelley Lyford, chair of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, told Managed Health Executive in March, 2023 write-up. “At this time, Civica plans a recommended price to the consumer of no more than $30 per vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. It believes it can have these versions of insulin available by 2024,” the website www.biospace.com/civica-rx-plans-to-provide-insulin-at-no-more-than-30-per-vial”>BioSpace earlier reported in March, 2022.
Since then, however, progress has been so slow that a final drug is said to be years in the future. “You could be anywhere from 12 months to two or three years before you get your actual approval — and that’s if nothing goes wrong,” James Bruno, identified as a “longtime chemical and pharmaceutical consultant for drug manufacturers,” told CalMatters. “Newsom spokesperson Elana Ross said in a statement that the governor remains committed to making affordable insulin, but did not answer questions about an updated timeline for when insulin would make it to market or how much money the state has paid to Civica for meeting various manufacturing goals.” The account quoted Ross as saying, “That process is underway and moving forward, though there have been delays, which is not unusual. The priorities of both the administration and Civica continue to be quality and price, and all parties continue to advance development toward FDA approval with those north stars.”
Alden’s pittance
Alden Global Capital, owner of the Union-Tribune and a raft of newspapers around the county, has been hit with a lawsuit by one of its top-ranking real estate executives, reports BloombergLaw.com. Alden, accused by employee unions of slashing salaries and benefits at its sprawling chain of papers, is “trying to push out a former real estate manager for a pittance, according to an unsealed lawsuit,” the January 10 account says. “Joseph Miller is suing multiple entities spun off from the investment firm to consolidate the buildings and other property assets it gained in connection with its spree of print media acquisitions. One of them is trying to repurchase his 10% equity for $3.5 million, ‘a fraction of the appropriate price,’ and another is proposing to pay just $2 for his 15% stake, his suit says.”...A political action committee largely funded by labor unions and contractors spent a hefty $2,639,953 in its ultimately failed November effort to get voter approval of a county sales tax hike to fund roads and related infrastructure as directed by the controversial San Diego San Diego Association of Governments, a January 14 filing shows.
Jill Gibson: passionate about transit and tax hikes.
One of the few individual donors, according to the disclosure, was Jill Gibson, identified as an engineer with Kimley-Horn, who came up with a personal $10,000 on October 31. “I’m a project manager with expertise in rail & transit project development/delivery, stakeholder engagement and community outreach,” says her LinkedIn profile. “I am passionate about enhancing our transit network and infrastructure through collaborative work and a proactive approach. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk project delivery, engagement strategies, or very big dogs.” The Southern California District Council of Laborers Issues PAC of Long Beach contributed $100,000 the same day.
Pricey PBS
As most local media outlets continue to see a relentless decline in advertising and influence, one tax-funded exception, San Diego State University-run KPBS, is on the rise. “KPBS staffing stabilized with approximately 190 employees to support and further the Stations’ activities. Management continues to focus on recruitment, retention, and development of staff to support the KPBS mission and future growth,” says a newly released Financial Statement and Report covering the 12 months ending in June of last year. Unlike years past, when the public broadcaster relied primarily on a series of pledge nights to raise cash, management is taking to the streets with aggressive professional fundraising. “The Station invested approximately $626,000 in new revenue initiatives including door-to-door canvassing, a mid-level donor cultivation program and implementation of an advanced member relationship management system,” says the report.
The organization is using much of the cash to extend its reach in news and public opinion, filling a vacuum left by the ever-shrinking Union-Tribune. “As a result of a $1.5 million grant fostering market research activities, KPBS launched an enterprise marketing initiative focused on advancing the KPBS brand and five key areas of mission and community service including local news, civic engagement/public conversations, arts & culture, the LatinX community and KPBS Families. Related to that initiative, KPBS received a $3 million three-year grant fostering the expansion of civic engagement in our community through increased public conversation and coverage of issues that matter to the greater San Diego region.”
Expenses have also grown, the document says. “Program services expenses increased $3,216,000 in FY24. This is due mainly to wage and benefit increases as well as increases in initiatives relative to content, communications, PBS dues, grants, engineering, direct and indirect cost allocations and the new building construction depreciation cost allocation.”
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Newsom’s $100 million San Diego insulin give-away stalls
KPBS seems to be in the clover
Newsom’s $100 million San Diego insulin give-away stalls
KPBS seems to be in the clover
A drive by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make low-cost insulin by spending $100 million in state funds has stalled.
Newsom’s insulin fail
A drive by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make low-cost insulin by spending $100 million in state funds has stalled, dashing the hopes of the well-heeled San Diego charity behind the project, which would ostensibly have provided a non-profit alternative to costly drugs from commercial pharmaceutical companies. “This is a big deal, folks. This is not happening anywhere else in the United States,” Newsom said in his 2023 State of the State speech, per a January 15 account by CalMatters. “This fundamentally lowers the cost, period, full stop.” Citing that effort, last October Newsom vetoed a bill to impose a $35 monthly insulin co-pay cap, the story says. In his veto message, the governor asserted that his state-sponsored drug making plan was “getting at the underlying cost, which is the true sustainable solution to high-cost pharmaceuticals. With co-pay caps however, the long-term costs are still passed down to consumers through higher premiums from health plans.”
Gavin Newsom: he wants to help, but it may take a while.
Since then, though, Newsom’s drug making project has fallen “behind the schedule he announced and unlikely to make it to market for several years, industry experts say,” according to CalMatters. “Civica, Inc., the nonprofit drug manufacturer contracted to produce insulin for California, has not started clinical trials or applied for approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration, both of which are likely to take more than a year to complete.”
The troubled saga began back in 2018, with the formation of Civica Rx, ‘the nation’s first nonprofit generic drug company,” according to the website of its key founder, San Diego’s Gary and Mary West Foundation. Civica’s 10-year, $50 million deal with Newsom was done five years later. “California made history today by partnering with Civica Rx, the nation’s first nonprofit generic pharmaceutical company, to produce affordable insulin for residents in need,” Shelley Lyford, chair of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, told Managed Health Executive in March, 2023 write-up. “At this time, Civica plans a recommended price to the consumer of no more than $30 per vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. It believes it can have these versions of insulin available by 2024,” the website www.biospace.com/civica-rx-plans-to-provide-insulin-at-no-more-than-30-per-vial”>BioSpace earlier reported in March, 2022.
Since then, however, progress has been so slow that a final drug is said to be years in the future. “You could be anywhere from 12 months to two or three years before you get your actual approval — and that’s if nothing goes wrong,” James Bruno, identified as a “longtime chemical and pharmaceutical consultant for drug manufacturers,” told CalMatters. “Newsom spokesperson Elana Ross said in a statement that the governor remains committed to making affordable insulin, but did not answer questions about an updated timeline for when insulin would make it to market or how much money the state has paid to Civica for meeting various manufacturing goals.” The account quoted Ross as saying, “That process is underway and moving forward, though there have been delays, which is not unusual. The priorities of both the administration and Civica continue to be quality and price, and all parties continue to advance development toward FDA approval with those north stars.”
Alden’s pittance
Alden Global Capital, owner of the Union-Tribune and a raft of newspapers around the county, has been hit with a lawsuit by one of its top-ranking real estate executives, reports BloombergLaw.com. Alden, accused by employee unions of slashing salaries and benefits at its sprawling chain of papers, is “trying to push out a former real estate manager for a pittance, according to an unsealed lawsuit,” the January 10 account says. “Joseph Miller is suing multiple entities spun off from the investment firm to consolidate the buildings and other property assets it gained in connection with its spree of print media acquisitions. One of them is trying to repurchase his 10% equity for $3.5 million, ‘a fraction of the appropriate price,’ and another is proposing to pay just $2 for his 15% stake, his suit says.”...A political action committee largely funded by labor unions and contractors spent a hefty $2,639,953 in its ultimately failed November effort to get voter approval of a county sales tax hike to fund roads and related infrastructure as directed by the controversial San Diego San Diego Association of Governments, a January 14 filing shows.
Jill Gibson: passionate about transit and tax hikes.
One of the few individual donors, according to the disclosure, was Jill Gibson, identified as an engineer with Kimley-Horn, who came up with a personal $10,000 on October 31. “I’m a project manager with expertise in rail & transit project development/delivery, stakeholder engagement and community outreach,” says her LinkedIn profile. “I am passionate about enhancing our transit network and infrastructure through collaborative work and a proactive approach. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk project delivery, engagement strategies, or very big dogs.” The Southern California District Council of Laborers Issues PAC of Long Beach contributed $100,000 the same day.
Pricey PBS
As most local media outlets continue to see a relentless decline in advertising and influence, one tax-funded exception, San Diego State University-run KPBS, is on the rise. “KPBS staffing stabilized with approximately 190 employees to support and further the Stations’ activities. Management continues to focus on recruitment, retention, and development of staff to support the KPBS mission and future growth,” says a newly released Financial Statement and Report covering the 12 months ending in June of last year. Unlike years past, when the public broadcaster relied primarily on a series of pledge nights to raise cash, management is taking to the streets with aggressive professional fundraising. “The Station invested approximately $626,000 in new revenue initiatives including door-to-door canvassing, a mid-level donor cultivation program and implementation of an advanced member relationship management system,” says the report.
The organization is using much of the cash to extend its reach in news and public opinion, filling a vacuum left by the ever-shrinking Union-Tribune. “As a result of a $1.5 million grant fostering market research activities, KPBS launched an enterprise marketing initiative focused on advancing the KPBS brand and five key areas of mission and community service including local news, civic engagement/public conversations, arts & culture, the LatinX community and KPBS Families. Related to that initiative, KPBS received a $3 million three-year grant fostering the expansion of civic engagement in our community through increased public conversation and coverage of issues that matter to the greater San Diego region.”
Expenses have also grown, the document says. “Program services expenses increased $3,216,000 in FY24. This is due mainly to wage and benefit increases as well as increases in initiatives relative to content, communications, PBS dues, grants, engineering, direct and indirect cost allocations and the new building construction depreciation cost allocation.”
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
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