Cassidy 340B Overhaul Bill, Vacirca FDA Finalist
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- Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the U.S. Senate health committee, introduced a bill to overhaul the federal 340B drug discount program, which has been lucrative for nonprofit hospitals
- The bill would allow drugmakers to give hospitals retroactive rebates instead of the upfront discounts hospitals prefer, and would require hospitals that insist on upfront discounts to pass them to patients and establish a sliding-fee scale for prescription drugs
- The 340B overhaul also places restrictions on the contract pharmacies hospitals use to administer the discounts
- Jeff Vacirca, a physician who has served as CEO and chairman of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists since 2008, is among the final candidates the Trump administration is considering to lead the FDA, per Bloomberg
- Vacirca holds a medical degree from St. George's University, co-founded and serves on the board of OneOncology, and is a board member of Caris Life Sciences
- Vacirca supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary after President Trump was elected to a second term in 2024
Why it matters: Cassidy's bill hands drugmakers a structural win by letting them swap upfront 340B discounts for retroactive rebates, while any hospital keeping upfront discounts must pass savings to patients via a sliding-fee scale. Vacirca's prior public endorsement of RFK Jr. puts an MAHA-aligned oncologist in striking distance of running the FDA.
