AbbVie said it will stop offering safety net hospitals 340B drug-pricing program discounts on drugs dispensed at contract pharmacies if the hospitals fail to turn over patient claims data for those pharmacies to the drugmaker.
AbbVie will begin the initiative Feb. 1, according to a Dec. 29 letter the drugmaker sent to safety net hospitals.
This move makes AbbVie the 11th drugmaker to restrict 340B discounts. It joins Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, UCB and United Therapeutics.
On Dec. 20, more than 800 hospitals participating in the 340B drug-pricing discount program penned a letter to HHS, asking the federal government to appeal a Nov. 5 federal court decision that upheld price denials from two drugmakers. The hospitals said drugmakers have been unilaterally denying 340B pricing to hospitals partnering with contract pharmacies to dispense drugs.