HRSA DIRECTS UCB TO RESTORE 340B PRICING TO SAFETY-NET HOSPITALS
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 27, 2022— Today, the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) informed global drug company UCB that it is violating federal law by restricting 340B drug pricing program discounts to hospitals for drugs dispensed at community and specialty pharmacies. UCB is the ninth drug company to receive such a notice, and 340B Health applauds HRSA for initiating enforcement actions against the drugmaker.
In a letter to UCB’s head of corporate affairs in the U.S., HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson states that the federal 340B statute does not permit the company’s restrictive policy on 340B hospitals. HRSA directs UCB to update the agency by July 11 on its plan to restore 340B pricing without restriction to safety-net hospitals. The letter is similar to those HRSA issued to eight other drug companies that are unlawfully restricting 340B—AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and United Therapeutics. The agency has referred all of those companies except Merck 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. AbbVie, Amgen, 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.