The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a shortage of ventilators, but also a scarcity of drugs needed for their use.
A Chandler-based startup is helping to address the shortfall.
Patients need sedatives like midazolam to accept breathing tubes and reduce pain and anxiety.
To help address the current shortage, Medivant Healthcare is switching from producing high-demand generic drugs like lidocaine to providing needed sedatives to Arizona, Colorado and Nevada facilities.
"They gave us the feedback that, 'Guys, I mean, all this is great — lidocaine is great; but what we need are these drugs,'" said principal shareholder Viraj Gandhi.
Medivant will provide the medications through a contract with the Supply Chain Value Network, a regional group purchasing organization (GPO). GPOs leverage the power of groups of healthcare facilities to negotiate better rates from manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers.
Gandhi says the first batch should be available in a couple of weeks.