HRSA DIRECTS ABBVIE AND AMGEN TO RESTORE 340B PRICING TO SAFETY-NET HOSPITALS
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) informed drug companies AbbVie and Amgen that they are violating federal law by restricting 340B drug pricing program discounts to hospitals for drugs dispensed at community and specialty pharmacies. These are the 10th and 11th drug companies to receive such notices. 340B Health applauds HRSA for initiating enforcement actions against the drugmakers.
In letters to the heads of the U.S. markets for AbbVie and Amgen, HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson states that the federal 340B statute does not permit the companies’ restrictive policies. HRSA directs the companies to update the agency by Nov. 18 on their plans to restore 340B pricing without restriction to safety-net hospitals. The letter is similar to those HRSA issued to nine other drug companies that are unlawfully restricting 340B—AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, UCB, and United Therapeutics. The agency has referred seven companies to the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) for possible steep fines for their continued refusals to restore the discounts.
340B Health continues to call for the government to take all available enforcement actions against drug companies that are breaking the 340B law. Bausch Health, Bristol Myers Squibb, Exelixis, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer have imposed unlawful restrictions on 340B discounts but have not yet received HRSA violation letters.
Contact: Richard Sorian at richard.sorian@340bhealth.org or 202-536-2285.