Arkansas
US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Challenge to Arkansas' Regulation of 340B Program
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to Arkansas’ 340B Drug Pricing Nondiscrimination Act, leaving in place a March 12 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that upheld the state law.
The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) had sought to overturn that decision, stating federal law preempted Arkansas’ legislation.
The Supreme Court’s denial marks the end of a lengthy legal battle over the act. The law, passed in 2021 as Act 1103, prevents pharmaceutical manufacturers from restricting health care providers’ ability to use local pharmacies for distributing federal 340B-discounted medications. Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a news release following the Supreme Court’s decision that the law “fills a gap in federal law that manufacturers previously exploited to deny equal drug access to rural patients.”
“This is a big win for Arkansas’s drug access law,” Griffin said in the release. “With the United States Supreme Court refusing this appeal, the Eighth Circuit’s ruling that Act 1103 is not preempted stands.”
The case traces back to 2020, when several pharmaceutical manufacturers began limiting health care providers’ ability to work with local pharmacies to distribute 340B drugs — a move that particularly threatened rural access to affordable medications. The Arkansas General Assembly responded by passing Act 1103, leading to PhRMA’s legal challenge.
“Today’s win means that manufacturers must continue to provide equal access to patients across Arkansas,” Griffin said in the release.
Griffin credited Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni, Senior Assistant Solicitor General Asher Steinberg and the solicitor general team for their work on the case, which has implications beyond Arkansas as other states consider similar legislation to protect the ability to use contract pharmacies in the 340B program.
Wally Hall
Wally Hall is assistant managing sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, he is a member and past president of the Football Writers Association of America, member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, past president and current executive committee and board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and voter for the Heisman Trophy. He has been awarded Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year 10 times and has been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and Arkansas Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Hazel Maxey picked out toys at the annual Santa’s Holiday Gift Drive.
“With toys, we can bring a little bit more cheer to a family, especially the children,” Maxey said
The toys might seem like a small gesture, but they’re actually a big deal for the children Maxey’s organization serves.
“We’re able to reach more children, help children and bring more cheer to the children that we serve so we are very grateful,” she said.
Maxey is the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff. For the past three decades, the center has served thousands of children who are victims of sexual and physical abuse.
Hazel Maxey, executive director children’s advocacy center of southeast Arkansas:
“We do forensic interviews, sexual assault exams, therapy and advocacy services so that we can help children in their healing process,” Maxey explained.
In 2024, they saw at least 700 children. Maxey believes the numbers will even higher by the end of this year.
“Children should have the right to be heard and believed and supported because children shouldn’t be hurt because of child maltreatment,” she said.
The team’s ultimate goal is to help children heal so they don’t carry their trauma into adulthood. That is why Rainwater Holt & Sexton has named the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeast Arkansas as this month’s Difference Maker.
Arkansas
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