J&J, Bristol Myers Turn to Drug Rebates in Fight Over Price Cuts

Major drugmakers are waging a new legal battle over how they discount drugs to certain health-care providers, as they search for new ways to operate under the nascent Medicare drug price negotiations.

Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Co., and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. are leading a new wave of lawsuits against the US Health Resources and Services Administration after the agency rejected their proposed plans to discount drugs via rebate rather than up-front to health providers under the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The manufacturers in separate lawsuits argue that implementing a rebate would address long-held ...