Drug manufacturer Merck is providing 340B covered entities with refunds for overcharges on 17 NDCs for purchases between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2019, the company says in a new public notice on the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) website.
The products include four NDCs for Merck’s antiviral Intron A and one NDC for its antiviral Sylatron. TICE BCG, a treatment for non-metastatic bladder cancer, also is covered. Merck has been allocating its supplies of TICE BCG due to supply constraints since January 2019.
Merck said it recalculated its 340B ceiling prices on the NDCs as “the result of revised pricing data that were submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.”
Lilly last week posted a similar notice about recalculating its ceiling prices, also during 2019, both upward and downward on multiple NDCs due to restatements of average manufacturer price and best price. Lilly indicated that it reserves the right to seek additional compensation for its products from 340B covered entities if it learns later that it charged them less than what the company perceives the 340B statute allows. 340B providers, and possibly the government, are likely to challenge Lilly’s position.
