STATEMENT ON AMGEN RESTRICTING 340B DISCOUNTS THROUGH COMMUNITY-BASED PHARMACIES
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The drug giant Amgen has informed safety-net hospitals that it will stop providing 340B drug pricing program discounts to them on drugs dispensed at community-based pharmacies starting Jan. 3, 2022, with limited exceptions. If the company follows through on its plan, it will become the 10th drugmaker to impose such 340B pricing restrictions through community pharmacies since the first did so in July 2020. The following statement is attributed to 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni:
“Amgen’s decision to follow the path of other drug companies in violating the federal 340B law will greatly magnify the harm that these refusals are causing for safety-net hospitals and the patients in need who rely on them. Two federal district courts have ruled that drug companies cannot refuse these discounts or impose conditions on them, and the administration and a bipartisan majority of Congress strongly agree.”
“It is long past time for these unlawful actions to stop. For the companies that the courts have ruled to be in noncompliance with the 340B law, we call on the administration to escalate enforcement actions in line with those decisions. We also are calling on the federal government to appeal a third federal district court ruling that validates drug companies’ restrictive policies or to take other necessary actions to respond to that decision. The longer this problem continues without resolution, the more drug companies will become emboldened to start unilaterally violating the law and causing irreparable harm to hospitals and their patients.”
Contact: Richard Sorian at richard.sorian@340bhealth.org or 202-536-2285.