Two more pharmaceutical companies plan to restrict 340B drug discounts to community pharmacies, nonprofit organization 340B Health said Feb. 1.
Germany-based global drugmaker Bayer and Rockland, Mass.-based EMD Serono will limit drug discounts ensured through the 340B program to covered entities and not include contract pharmacies. The changes are effective March 1, Bayer and EMD Serono said in letters
340B Health said these are the 20th and 21st drugmakers to narrow discounted drugs to 340B hospitals, which care for an uninsured community. The others are AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bausch Health, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Exelixis, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, UCB and United Therapeutics, the organization said.
The news comes two days after an appeals court ruled that Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk can deny the drug discounts to contract pharmacies.