340B HEALTH RESPONDS TO FEDERAL COURT DECISION ON DRUGMAKERS’ REBATE SCHEMES
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision on several lawsuits involving the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to impose their rebate models on hospitals participating in the 340B drug pricing program. The opinion rejects the ability of four drug companies and a drug industry consultant to unilaterally replace upfront discounts with backend rebates.
The following statement is attributed to 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni:
“On behalf of our more than 1,600 hospital members, we are pleased this opinion recognizes the immense harm unilateral drugmaker rebate schemes would cause safety-net hospitals and the patients in need whom they serve. Allowing these rebate schemes to proceed without government approval would have enabled drugmakers, not the government, to control how providers use 340B and upend the way it has operated for more than 30 years.”
“Together with two of our member hospitals, we successfully intervened as defendants in this case. The opinion relied in large part on information we provided in our briefings demonstrating that rebates would force hospitals to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on drug carrying costs, additional staff resources, and other expenses for complying with drugmaker rebate mandates.”
“340B hospitals provide 77% of Medicaid hospital care and 67% of uncompensated care in the U.S. Without vital 340B savings, many hospitals will be forced to scale back or eliminate programs, leaving patients and communities without access to affordable care. The rebate model would force some hospitals to reduce their current level of services and support that their patients need.”
“We successfully intervened as defendants in another rebate lawsuit from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that is pending before a different judge on the same D.C. court. We look forward to this opportunity to continue our robust legal opposition to unilateral drugmaker rebate schemes.”
Contact: Jon Tilton at jon.tilton@340bhealth.org or 202-536-2285