Massachusetts Hospitals Sue Eli Lilly Over 340B Data Demands
Five Massachusetts hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's, sued Eli Lilly on Oct. 27 in federal court, alleging the drugmaker unlawfully cut off their 340B discount pricing after they refused to submit patient claims data through a third-party platform, 340B ESP. The hospitals claim Lilly's January policy violates Massachusetts consumer protection law and constitutes unjust enrichment, arguing the data demand risks exposing protected health information and that Lilly's stated rationale of preventing duplicate discounts is pretextual given existing HRSA oversight processes. Lilly began denying ceiling-price discounts to noncompliant hospitals starting June 18, with cutoffs hitting different plaintiffs through October 21. The hospitals seek injunctive relief, damages, and say the lost savings, estimated at tens of millions of dollars annually, support charity care and community health services.