From the Portland Press Herald:
Health care advocates are supporting legislation to protect access to a federal discount drug program considered critical to community health centers and programs that serve rural and underserved patients.
Groups including the Maine Pharmacy Association, the Maine Primary Care Association — which represents the clinics — and the Maine Hospital Association said on Wednesday that the bill would prevent pharmaceutical companies from restricting access to discounted drugs through what’s known as the 340B program.
But a representative from the pharmaceutical industry criticized the bill, arguing it would open the door to more abuse by hospitals that are exploiting the program.
Maine would join a growing number of states passing laws to prevent drug makers from limiting access to the discounted drugs. While 340B is a federal program, states have authority to set rules around its implementation.
The program mandates that drug companies sell certain outpatient drugs at discounted rates to safety net programs, which reinvest those savings into services and charity care.
The bill’s proponents say that the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy benefit managers — the industry’s middle men — are exploiting loopholes in order to restrict access and divert funds from the discounts back to the pharmaceutical industry.