Drugmaker Eli Lilly revealed that it had planned to impose a 340B rebate model on all covered entities (including CHCs) for all Lilly drugs, effective in Nov., and had communicated their plans to HRSA over the summer. However, after HRSA threatened to remove Johnson & Johnson’s access to the Medicaid and Medicare Part B markets if they implemented their own limited 340B rebate model, Lilly decided to put its rebate plans on-hold. Eli Lilly’s plans became public when they filed a lawsuit against HRSA, claiming that the agency exceeded its authority by seeking to block the rebate model. A similar suit was filed two days earlier by J&J. Lilly was the first manufacturer to impose contract pharmacy restrictions, so it is not surprising that they would seek to be an “early adopter” of a rebate model. While both lawsuits name the current HHS Secretary and HRSA Administrator as defendants, these individuals will soon be replaced by Trump appointees. Currently, there is no reliable information about how the Trump Administration will respond to the drugmakers’ arguments.
