Drug manufacturer Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) yesterday updated its 340B contract pharmacy pricing policy to address how it will handle 340B discounts on its new heart medicine Camzyos, a potential blockbuster product.
Camzyos is a first-in-class treatment for symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. To minimize the risk of patient heart failure and/or fetal harm, its distribution is limited under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). It can be dispensed only by certified pharmacies only to authorized patients.
According to a May 31 addendum to its 340B contract pharmacy pricing policy, BMS will let 340B entities that are not part of its Camzyos limited distribution network access 340B pricing by designating one in-network specialty pharmacy in the network as a contract pharmacy. “No claim information submission is necessary for Camzyos,” the addendum said. Entities can designate their contract pharmacy on BMS contractor 340B ESP’s website.
BMS in January announced a two-pronged policy restricting 340B pricing when hospitals and grantee entities contract with pharmacies to dispense drugs to patients.
One of the policy’s prongs applied to all but three of the medicines that BMS sold at the time. It lets hospitals access 340B pricing only through the hospital’s in-house pharmacy or only through just one contract pharmacy. Grantee entities can keep buying these products at a 340B price for shipment to an unlimited number of contract pharmacies. There is no claims data submission requirement for grantees or hospitals for these purchases.
The other prong applies to BMS’s three multiple myeloma drugs Revlimid, Pomalyst, and Thalomid. Hospital and grantee entities can each designate one pharmacy in BMS’s limited distribution network for the drugs, all of which have REMS, as their contract pharmacy for 340B purchases. Entities must submit claims data for the purchases directly to BMS.
This change, which expanded 340B pricing from a limited group of approximately 250 providers to over a thousand 340B hospitals, came about six months after 340B Report’s blockbuster investigative series on the company’s drug pricing practices on its myeloma drugs. Through a Freedom of Information Request, 340B Report discovered that the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) told drug manufacturer Celgene (acquired by BMS in 2019) nearly five years ago the company “must ensure” that covered entities could buy these products at the 340B ceiling price through its limited distribution network.
BMS yesterday added five FAQs addressing its new policy. One addressing Revlimid, Pomalyst, and Thalomid purchases said effective July 1, “BMS will accept and process contract pharmacy replenishment orders that have corresponding claims data submitted within 60 days of the contract pharmacy’s date of dispense.”
