Senate committee hears bill to block drug makers' limits on 340B contract pharmacies

Representative John Nelson, sponsor of House Bill 1473, told the Senate Human Services Committee the bill would stop drug manufacturers from imposing unilateral restrictions on how covered entities participate in the federal 340B drug discount program.

The bill, Nelson said at a committee hearing, "helps stop drug manufacturers from implementing their own requirements and mandates on a federally run program called the 340B program," which he described as critical to sustaining rural health care and access in North Dakota.

Supporters — including the North Dakota Pharmacists Association, the North Dakota Hospital Association, Sanford Health, Heart of America Hospital in Rugby, and community health centers — said contract pharmacies and 340B savings fund services that would otherwise be at risk in small and rural communities. Mike Schwab of the North Dakota Pharmacists Association summarized…