Cardinal Health Foundation aims to improve prescription recycling, medication availability
Full Article Credits to the Columbus Dispatch
More Ohioans will have access to needed medications thanks to a new multimillion-dollar investment by the Cardinal Health Foundation.
The foundation, in partnership with the Charitable Healthcare Network and St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy, will expand its Equity Rx pilot program to get medications to those who can't afford them and create Ohio's first ever statewide drug repository, in which Ohioans can donate certain drugs to be repurposed.
"The phrase game changer might be a little undersold" said Jason Koma, executive director of the Charitable Healthcare Network. "Having the ability to make inroads in access to medication is the number one concern we have, and I really think we're gonna get there through this."
Approximately six in 10 U.S. adults reported taking a prescription drug, according to a 2024 KFF Health analysis, and a quarter of U.S. adults take four or more. However, roughly a third of U.S. adults reported concerns over drugs prices and cited costs as being the main reason not to take prescriptions drugs.
Getting meds where they need to go
Equity Rx was first launched by Cardinal Health in 2023 as a southwest Ohio pilot program to provide charitable health clinics with prescription medicines so patients could get their meds on site.
Currently, there are only five charitable pharmacies in Ohio, but dozens of clinics who are helping uninsured or underinsured patients around the state, explained Jessie Cannon, vice president of community relations at Cardinal Health. Rather than creating new infrastructure, they sought to build on and work with the clinics already present in the community and the charitable pharmacies that served them.
As a result, from August 2024 to April 2025, St. Vincent De Paul charitable pharmacies dispensed over 25,000 prescriptions to underinsured and uninsured people in southwest Ohio, Cannon said, evidence of a successful pilot.
With a new total investment of over $5 million by 2027, the foundation plans to expand Equity Rx into the northeast and southeast quadrants of the state, as well as in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Illinois with the help of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.
Half-full orange bottles could make all the difference
According to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, $11 billion of unopened and unexpired medication gets destroyed each year in the U.S.
In 2023, the state Legislature paved the way for Ohioans to be able to donate those medications to be repurposed at specific licensed sites. Now, under Equity Rx's expansion, building the state's first ever drug repository is underway, increasing where and how you can donate medications.
"We're on the forefront of doing something really wonderful here in Ohio," Cannon said.
The hope is that by 2027, there will be a warehouse where qualifying medications can be mailed. The medications will be sorted, catalogued, processed and deemed safe for use before being sent to charitable pharmacies and clinics around the state at no cost or can be requested by those charitable clinics.
Exceptions will include controlled substances, like pain meds, compounded drugs and some cancer medications.
Medical business and health care reporter Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com
