April 340Buzz: Thanks to contract pharmacy exclusions, 340B growth may be slowing
Summary
In the judicial system, the wheels continued to turn slowly around the conflict over contract pharmacies, while a pair of surveys painted instructive portraits of the 340B program at a time of major contention. In that case, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), AstraZeneca and drug-industry rebate platform Kalderos have all filed friend of the court briefs supporting the drugmakers. That’s both good news and notable, since many of the big insulin manufacturers are now restricting 340B access at contract pharmacies, keeping desperately needed medication out of reach for many patients. At the state level, we’re seeing continued momentum toward passing laws prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers and insurers from discriminating against 340B covered entities via special fees, lower reimbursement or other actions. Meanwhile, next month I’ll be hosting another webinar to help covered entities make sense of the different data models and other policies of manufacturers regarding contract pharmacy exclusions, sharing lessons learned from our industry relations team.
