Drugmakers throw 'kitchen sink' to halt Medicare price negotiations
The government will soon announce the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare under a new law. Drugmakers are fighting the measure in court.
The pharmaceutical industry, which suffered a crushing defeat last year when President Biden signed legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, is now waging an all-out assault on the measure - just as negotiations are about to begin.
The law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is an iconic legislative achievement for Mr Biden, who has boasted of taking on the pharmaceutical industry and winning. Medicare is the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled; provisions allowing it to negotiate prices are expected to save the government an estimated $98.5 billion over a decade while reducing insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for many older Americans.
On Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson became the latest drugmaker to take the Biden administration to federal court in a bid to end the drug pricing program. Three other pharmaceutical companies - Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma - have filed their own lawsuits, as have the industry's leading trade group and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
The lawsuits make similar and overlapping claims that the drug pricing provisions are unconstitutional. They're scattered in federal courts across the country — a tactic that experts say gives the industry a better chance of securing conflicting rulings that will expedite legal challenges in a pro-business Supreme Court.
The legal push comes just weeks before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services releases a long-awaited list of the top 10 drugs to be negotiated. The list must be published by September 1; the manufacturers of the selected drugs have until October 1 to declare whether they will participate in the negotiations - or face heavy financial penalties if they do not. The price cut won't take effect until 2026.
Earlier this month, the chamber asked a federal judge in Ohio to issue an injunction that would block any negotiations while his case is being heard.
Lawrence O. Gostin, health law expert public at Georgetown University, said the Supreme Court may be sympathetic to some of the industry's arguments. In particular, he pointed to a claim by the drugmakers that, by requiring them to bargain or pay a fine, the law violates the Fifth Amendment prohibition on seizing private property for public purposes without just compensation. p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">For Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats, that would be a blow. The president and Democrats have long campaigned to lower drug prices and plan to make it a central theme of their 2024 campaigns. White House press secretary Karine Jean-...
The government will soon announce the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare under a new law. Drugmakers are fighting the measure in court.
The pharmaceutical industry, which suffered a crushing defeat last year when President Biden signed legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, is now waging an all-out assault on the measure - just as negotiations are about to begin.
The law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is an iconic legislative achievement for Mr Biden, who has boasted of taking on the pharmaceutical industry and winning. Medicare is the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled; provisions allowing it to negotiate prices are expected to save the government an estimated $98.5 billion over a decade while reducing insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for many older Americans.
On Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson became the latest drugmaker to take the Biden administration to federal court in a bid to end the drug pricing program. Three other pharmaceutical companies - Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma - have filed their own lawsuits, as have the industry's leading trade group and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
The lawsuits make similar and overlapping claims that the drug pricing provisions are unconstitutional. They're scattered in federal courts across the country — a tactic that experts say gives the industry a better chance of securing conflicting rulings that will expedite legal challenges in a pro-business Supreme Court.
The legal push comes just weeks before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services releases a long-awaited list of the top 10 drugs to be negotiated. The list must be published by September 1; the manufacturers of the selected drugs have until October 1 to declare whether they will participate in the negotiations - or face heavy financial penalties if they do not. The price cut won't take effect until 2026.
Earlier this month, the chamber asked a federal judge in Ohio to issue an injunction that would block any negotiations while his case is being heard.
Lawrence O. Gostin, health law expert public at Georgetown University, said the Supreme Court may be sympathetic to some of the industry's arguments. In particular, he pointed to a claim by the drugmakers that, by requiring them to bargain or pay a fine, the law violates the Fifth Amendment prohibition on seizing private property for public purposes without just compensation. p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">For Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats, that would be a blow. The president and Democrats have long campaigned to lower drug prices and plan to make it a central theme of their 2024 campaigns. White House press secretary Karine Jean-...
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