Hospital groups urge appeals court to uphold 340B requirements in contract pharmacy case 

The AHA, 340B Health, America’s Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Children’s Hospital Association yesterday filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit to require drug companies to fulfill their legal obligations to provide 340B discounted drugs to eligible hospitals and health systems, regardless of whether the drugs are dispensed on site or through contract pharmacies.   
 
HHS last year sent violation letters to AstraZeneca and five other pharmaceutical companies for refusing to provide 340B discounts for drugs dispensed through contract pharmacies. The hospital groups told the court they agree with HHS’s arguments regarding the 340B statute’s meaning, the agency’s authority to enforce it, and the propriety of HHS’s violation letters. The organizations also elaborate on certain issues not already addressed in their recent friend-of-the-court brief responding to Novo Nordisk and Sanofi appeals challenging the HHS letters.