Last week, I documented that nearly half of U.S. pharmacies now participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Below, we update our exclusive analysis of the biggest specialty pharmacies within 340B.
The four largest specialty pharmacies are owned by CVS Health, Cigna’s Express Scripts business, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx business, and Walgreens Boots Alliance/Prime Therapeutics.
As you will see below, these specialty pharmacies have dramatically increased their participation in the 340B program. Hospitals are the primary 340B covered entities that engage with these specialty pharmacies.
We estimate that specialty pharmacy dispensing accounted for nearly one-third of PBMs’ total gross profits in 2019. Consequently, the 340B program is a significant and growing component of profitability for these large, for-profit, publicly traded companies.
Later this week, I’ll examine how patients with commercial and Medicare Part D insurance are subsidizing the super-sized 340B profits of these companies.
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