Full Press Release Details
Fifty million Americans don’t take their prescribed medication because they can’t afford it, often making the impossible choice between medications and food, housing, gas, or other necessities. At the same time, up to $11 billion worth of surplus medication goes to waste every year.
To help under-resourced families access life-saving medications, PharMerica has partnered with SIRUM since 2015 to donate unexpired, unused medication drugs. These include tablets and caplets as well as other forms like self-injectable medications, liquid medications, and unopened inhalers.
In states where drug returns are not accepted, PharMerica pharmacies use SIRUM’s platform to donate these medications that would otherwise be destroyed. SIRUM then matches the donated medicine to community partners who need it. Last year, PharMerica donated 719,287 prescriptions valued at an estimated $24,907,973.
“With rising healthcare costs, inflation, and other barriers preventing many Americans from getting the care they need, we are proud to help ensure patients have access to life-saving medications to improve health equity in underserved communities,” said Jennifer Yowler, President of PharMerica.
“SIRUM’s work to reimagine medicine access for those in need would not be possible without the support of medicine donors like PharMerica,” said George Wang, co-founder of SIRUM. “We’re grateful for our longstanding partnership and our shared belief in improving health equity.”
Watch the video to see our drug donation partnership with SIRUM in action and learn more about how, together, we are saving medicines to save lives.