Overview

• The American Hospital Association asked the FTC and DOJ to investigate Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi and Novartis for potential collusion in rolling out 340B rebate models.
• The request points to rapid, overlapping announcements starting with Johnson & Johnson in August 2024 and followed by the others through January, which the AHA says indicates parallel conduct.
• Under the proposed models, providers would pay full price at purchase and seek rebates later, a shift the AHA says restricts access to discounts and effectively forces interest-free loans to manufacturers.
• Drugmakers contend rebates help verify eligibility and reduce fraud, while a federal judge in May paused unilateral rebate rollouts but did not foreclose such models entirely.
• HRSA launched a limited rebate pilot in August, drawing objections from hospital groups that urged extended deadlines and warned of administrative and cash-flow strain in a program that tallied $66.3 billion in 2023 purchases.