Gilead will stop offering 340B discounts to safety-net hospitals effective May 2 if providers do not submit certain patient claims data, the drugmaker said March 15.
"We are making this change across our branded hepatitis C products because of the acute impact of duplicate discounts and diversion," Gilead said in its announcement. "The claims level data being requested is similar to the data Gilead receives from other purchasers and payers and is tailored to minimize burdens on covered entities while mitigating duplicate discount and diversion concerns."
This will make Gilead the 15th company to limit 340B discounts to safety net hospitals for drugs dispensed at community-based pharmacies, according 340B Health, an advocacy organization.
Gilead's new policy will target its brand-name hepatitis C drugs Epclusa, Harvoni, Solvadi and Vosevi.
GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, UCB and United Therapeutics have all moved to stop or limit 340B discounts on drugs dispensed at community pharmacies.
"These limits reduce resources available to safety-net providers and increase the size of drug company profits. The biggest losers in this dispute are low-income and rural Americans who rely on the healthcare safety net for care when they are sick and preventive services to keep them healthy," said Maureen Testoni, CEO and president of 340B Health.