Full 4th Circuit to rehear challenges to state contract pharmacy laws 

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsMay 28 agreed to rehear challenges to 340B contract pharmacy laws from West Virginia and Maryland. In April, a three-judge panel from that court found those laws to be unconstitutional. At the time of those decisions, AHA General Counsel Chad Golder stated, they “scream out for rehearing by the full Fourth Circuit. As the dissenting judge correctly points out, the majority rests its decision on arguments that the parties never made. It invents new theories of preemption that lack any basis in the law. It conflicts with the decisions of courts across the country. And it is wrong. We look forward to it being overturned.”  

The full court of appeals will now reconsider those decisions. Two federal courts of appeals have upheld similar laws in Louisiana and Arkansas. The AHA filed amicus briefs in support of the West Virginia and Maryland laws in both the district court and the 4th Circuit.