340bemployed.org

Your Free Source for 340B News and Commentary

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Employers
  • Job Seekers
  • Advertise
  • 340B Health

Big Pharma Plays the Blame Game on Drug Prices


 

Print Article

March 2, 2017—If you’re in business, it’s bad news when the president of the United States asks a joint session of Congress on national TV to do something immediately about your “artificially high” prices.

That’s the situation Big Pharma is in today. President Trump’s jab about its price gouging in his Feb. 28 congressional address is just the latest he’s taken at the industry. The media is piling on, too. Every day there’s another headline about a drug company gaming the system to goose its profits or a patient forced to choose between obscenely expensive medicine and food, clothing, and shelter.

How has Big Pharma responded? By blaming others for making it set prices sky high. The 340B drug discount program is a favorite scapegoat. “The logic goes thusly: Since pharmaceutical companies must provide discounted medicines to 340B hospitals, they automatically raise prices on those drugs for everyone else to make up the difference,” write the directors of two cancer centers that depend on 340B savings in a new Morning Consult op-ed. “The problem? There are absolutely no data to back up the assertion. Even at a 20 to 50 percent discount to safety-net providers, drug makers often enjoy a sizeable profit. How much? We’ll never know because they guard that secret like the crown jewels.”

“We work for safety-net hospitals and it’s our mission to treat all patients who come through our doors,” write Dr. Mary Margaret Kemeny and Dr. Robert Chapman (the former is director of the Queens Cancer Center of Queens Hospital in Jamaica, N.Y.; the latter is director of the Josephine Ford Cancer Institute at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit). “Savings from the 340B program help us provide diagnosis, medications and surgery to uninsured and underinsured individuals who would certainly die without medical intervention….And yet the drug industry continues to try and gut the program.”

Big Pharma’s $100 million ad campaign to restore its battered image “could buy 1,639,344 vials of cisplatin 50mg treatments for breast, ovarian, bladder and testicular cancer,” the physicians note.

“Imagine how many lives that could save.”

Follow us on X

340B Health Follow

340B Health is the leading advocate & resource for hospitals that serve their communities by participating in the 340B drug pricing program. #Protect340B

340BHealth
340bhealth 340B Health @340bhealth ·
30 Jun

A federal judge just ruled that @HRSAgov was correct in rejecting @JNJNews' #340B rebate scheme. The ruling is similar to a recent one that found four other drugmakers and @KalderosInc cannot enact rebate schemes without government approval.

340B rebate schemes would harm…

Reply on Twitter 1939714555237552272 Retweet on Twitter 1939714555237552272 Like on Twitter 1939714555237552272 1 Twitter 1939714555237552272
340bhealth 340B Health @340bhealth ·
29 Jun

#Becauseof340B, hospitals serving many uninsured and underinsured patients can offer more health care services and discounted medications, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.

How is this possible?

By requiring drug companies to commit a small portion of their profits to…

Reply on Twitter 1939349389908283510 Retweet on Twitter 1939349389908283510 2 Like on Twitter 1939349389908283510 1 Twitter 1939349389908283510
340bhealth 340B Health @340bhealth ·
28 Jun

The @340BCoalition Summer #340BConf, occurring July 21-23 just a few miles away from the nation’s capital, will feature keynotes from drug pricing and policy experts @MaureenTestoni, Chantelle Britton of OPA, and Amy Walter of "The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter." Register…

Reply on Twitter 1939020472588406842 Retweet on Twitter 1939020472588406842 Like on Twitter 1939020472588406842 Twitter 1939020472588406842
Load More

RSS 340B Informed

  • An In-Depth Look at Total 340B Purchases
  • Ideas for 340B Changes Could Lead to Legislation
  • Help From 340B After a Rare Diagnosis and an Unaffordable Bill

Copyright © 2025 · 340B Health