Three U.S. Courts Sustain Medicare Drug Price Negotiations, Defeat Big Pharma
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three federal courts have ruled to reject challenges to the Medicare drug price negotiation in separate cases in the last two days, dealing a win for consumers and a major blow to Big Pharma and the U.S Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today rejected Boehringer Ingelheim’s attempt to deny Medicare the authority to negotiate lower drug prices. In a separate decision today, a federal district court in Texas rejected PHRMA’s argument that the drug price negotiation program was unconstitutional. And just yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied an attempt by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to pursue its constitutional challenge to the drug pricing program.
Public Citizen, joined by Doctors for America, Protect Our Care, and Families USA, filed amicus briefs in support of the government and defending the constitutionality of the drug price negotiation program. In March, Public Citizen issued an issue brief stressing that Medicare drug price negotiation represents an important step forward in regulating drug prices in the United States, but loopholes and restrictions included in the law already impose limits on savings for patients and taxpayers.
“The drug industry is faltering in its attempts to use the Constitution and the courts to avoid negotiating fair prices with Medicare,” said Public Citizen Attorney Nandan Joshi. “From New York to Texas, courts are rejecting the industry’s efforts to profit off of Medicare while charging seniors sky-high prices for brand name drugs.”