Many people love the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
340B Program
The Orphan Drug ImbroglioThe controversy over HRSA's authority emerged late last year, when the agency published a legislative rule that sought to provide coverage for some uses of orphan drugs.
The Health Resources and Services Administration said it stands by its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act orphan drug exclusion, despite a recent court ruling that challenged its authority to engage in legislative rulemaking.
A move by Genentech has eliminated discounts and rebates hospitals receive when they purchase three of the company's top-selling infused cancer drugs.
The loss of discounts and rebates hospitals received for administering Genentech's Avastin, Herceptin and Rituxan will increase costs to patients, said Scott Soefje, director of pharmacy at University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin.
Cancer centers and other hospitals, reeling from the loss of discounts and rebates on three widely used cancer drugs, are seeking to persuade drug maker Genentech to reverse its decision to channel these medications through six specialty distributors.
