Specialty drug price trends in the federal 340B drug discount program

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The federal 340B Drug Discount Program provides access to significant drug price discounts for health care organizations in the United States that serve a disproportional share of disadvantaged patients. OBJECTIVE: To analyze trends over a 10-year period (2006~2016) in the price of specialty drugs, contrasting the market price with the price paid under the 340B program. METHODS: Pharmacy purchase records, including the 340B drug price and the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC), were collected from a 340B-contract pharmacy group in Southern California between 2006 and 2016. Records were used to calculate price changes in the annual average price paid. The average price was calculated as the weighted price, using purchasing volume for each year as weights. Separate time series of year-to-year price changes were created by therapeutic class using the American Hospital Formulary Service Therapeutic Classification system. RESULTS: The 340B price growth rate patterns were similar to the profile of the WAC prices over time across all drug classes. The overall drug price growth rate per year over 10 years for WAC prices was 15% and 10% for 340B prices. For specialty drug classes, the average growth rates per year were 14% for the WAC price and 6% for the 340B price. For certain specialty drug classes, such as antineoplastic and antiretroviral drugs, the 340B price inflation rates were significantly lower than the WAC price inflation rates after 2013. CONCLUSIONS: The price inflation of specialty drugs exceeds the rate of inflation in the Consumer Price Index for prescription drugs. The 340B price shows a similar inflation pattern as the WAC price over time in the specialty drug categories.