Ted Okon, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, said the 340B Drug Pricing Program has become a picture of waste and abuse as the market value of 340B drugs exceeded $180 billion, calling on CMS to act.
According to Okon on X, "Great data reporting by Drug Channels on the run-away 340B program. As CMS knows, 340B is the picture of waste and abuse as market value of 340B drugs exceeds a startling $180 billion. Big hospitals are literally printing money at patients' expense."
The wholesale acquisition cost list price value of 340B purchases reached $179.5 billion in 2025, while discounted purchases under the program totaled at least $100 billion—a 22.8 percent increase over the previous year—according to Drug Channels. Hospitals accounted for 87 percent of total 340B purchases in 2025, with disproportionate share hospitals alone representing nearly 80 percent of the total. The estimated value of discounts grew to $79.5 billion in 2025, up by $12 billion from 2024. A peer-reviewed study published in Health Affairs Scholar found that utilization accounted for approximately 80 percent of the program's growth rather than manufacturer price increases.
The Congressional Budget Office concluded that only about one-third of the growth in the program was due to higher drug prices or spending patterns; most growth was attributed to hospitals' acquisition of physician clinics and rapid expansion of contract pharmacy arrangements—from a single pharmacy per covered entity in 1995 to more than 32,000 by 2024, according to CBO.
Okon is executive director at Community Oncology Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and their patients. COA is described as the only organization dedicated solely to community oncology where most Americans with cancer are treated, according to COA.
