A new non-profit organization that recycles surplus medicine and redistributes it recently expanded to Oregon, and is hoping to partner with clinics and nursing homes across the state in need of inexpensive drugs.
Sirum, which launched out of California in 2011, wants to get some of the $5 billion a year of unused, unexpired medicine in the United States that would otherwise go into the trash, into the hands of those in need. Since launching, the group has distributed $4 million of medicine across its partner states, enough to supply 85,000 patients with prescriptions.
Sirum has about 200 partners across California and also works in Ohio and Colorado.
“Our goal is really a national one,” said George Wang, co-founder and director. “We really want to see programs like ours everywhere in the country.”
The group started partnering with safety net clinics in Oregon, including Central City Concern, which are receiving medications, and is hoping to expand.
“The reality is that the donors are ready to donate in Oregon,” Wang said. “We’re always looking for more.”
Amy Chen, Sirum’s manager, said there’s a lot of interest in Oregon with the goal of expanding statewide.
In one month, Central City Concern received 90,000 pills through Sirum’s program, said pharmacist Sandy Anderson. But the need is far greater. “Really that kind of represents a very small portion.”
How it works
Sirum works like a logistical middle man, providing unused and unexpired medicine to pharmacies and clinics who can provide those drugs to uninsured or underinsured patients.
It takes surplus medicine from nursing homes, assisted living facilities, pharmacies and sometimes hospitals but not individuals, giving those drugs to its partners -- pharmacies and clinics. The partners pay a modest fee for shipping and getting the drugs to the clinics.
Sirum can get prescriptions to clinics for 10 to 25 percent of the regular cost of medicine.
Anderson said Central City is working out how to get the pills efficiently to those in need.
“They have a supply for us. We just have a problem of distributing it right now to all the needs of the facility.”
Anderson has already seen the impact. A young man, for example, was living on the streets of Portland, far from his home, eating out of garbage dumpsters and panning for money. Now he’s been able to get a job and move back to his home.
“If I wouldn’t have had medications to give him in the very beginning to get him settled down a little bit that probably never would have happened,” she said. He’d still be out there.”
The cheaper drugs are helping another client who is temporarily without insurance because of issues with her Medicare Part D plan. “Sirum’s meds will help me carry this lady until we solve this problem,” she said.
Healthcare providers who have excess drugs can go online to Sirum’s website, find a clinic with matching needs, pack the medicine to be picked up and track its progress. Wang said the donors are thrilled to have an option other than paying to throw away drugs.
“These people are healthcare providers at heart,” Wang said. “It pains them to be throwing away perfectly good medicine. They know that it could help someone.”
Sirum facilitates donations between licensed facilities and is protected by the states’ Good Samaritan laws that give legal protection to those who help people in need. Facilities not in California, Oregon, Ohio or Colorado can pre-register..
Sirum also works closely with state lawmakers “to ensure that we keep complete acquisition, destruction, and dispensing records in-line with each state’s laws and regulations.”
In Oregon, the feedback has been positive. “I feel like it fits very well into the Oregon mentality,” Wang said.
Shelby can be reached at [email protected].
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