Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway warned Eli Lilly on October 26 to discontinue requiring hospitals to provide claims data in order to receive discounted medicines under the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, in a cease and desist letter reported by STAT. Hanaway maintained that Lilly had broken its promise to sell medicines under the program to eligible hospitals in the state, and contended the practice made false and misleading statements in violation of state law.
The letter cites University of Missouri Health Care, which operates seven hospitals in the state. Hanaway said the system recently agreed to provide claims data and that Lilly denied it discounts anyway. She asked the company to end the policy by November 26.
Drugmakers have increasingly attached data conditions to 340B discounts, arguing they need claims data to prevent duplicate discounts and diversion, while hospitals argue the conditions are a way to shrink a statutory discount. The Missouri letter moves the fight into state consumer protection law, enforced by a Republican attorney general against a pricing practice hospitals across the political spectrum oppose. It is a warning letter, not a judgment, and Lilly’s response will decide whether it becomes litigation.