November 14, 2014—Ten of the nation’s leading academic medical centers have asked Congress to investigate Genentech’s decision to move the world’s three top-selling cancer drugs into the more expensive specialty distribution channel. [ms-protect-content id=”2799″]
Genentech’s decision about Rituxan, Avastin, and Herceptin, which took effect Oct. 1, “will adversely affect patient care, create an undue financial burden, and lead to inefficient, labor intensive, and costly pharmacy processes,” the hospital executives said in a Nov. 6 letter. “Providers will be compelled to increase inventory in order to hedge against any potential delivery problems or delays….Because these drugs are essential and often lifesaving, hospitals have no choice but to pay the going rate.”
“This change, instituted virtually overnight, seems questionable at best,” the leaders wrote. They asked the Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate to “begin an expedited review of Genentech’s decision and the impact it will have on cancer patients’ access to timely treatment.”
The letter was signed by the heads of:
- Partners Healthcare
- Sinai Medical Center
- New York Presbyterian Hospital
- Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University
- The Ohio State University Medical Center
- University of California System
- University of Michigan
- The Johns Hopkins University
- University of Pennsylvania Health System
- BJC Healthcare
Several hospital groups had written earlier to Genentech urging it to reverse the change. These included Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access, which represents hospitals enrolled in 340B. In a Nov. 5 reply to SNHPA, Genentech said that, by using specialty distributors, “we are better able to manage and track our supply.”
Genentech also said it understands “the concerns you have expressed regarding the financial implications your members are experiencing due to this model change.”
“With that said, I hope you can appreciate that we are not, and cannot be, privy to the specific terms between covered entities and their authorized distributors,” it said.
“We believe the 340B program is important and we are dedicated to preserving the integrity of the program to ensure needy patients have access to outpatient medicines,” the company said. [/ms-protect-content]