Supreme Court deals blow to pharma challenge of Medicare price negotiation [View all]
Source: The Hill
05/18/26 6:25 PM ET
The decision leaves several lower court rulings upholding the program that Congress enacted as part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act 2022. The justices did not issue comments with the decision.
The drugmakers’ appeals were considered longshots, as the lower courts were almost all in agreement. The Supreme Court often looks for disagreement among lower courts before granting a case.
Other lawsuits over the program are still pending, but the loss by AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk will make those other cases more difficult. The law requires the government to negotiate prices for certain high-cost drugs in Medicare on an annual basis, with the first deals taking effect in 2026. Drugmakers have been fighting the Medicare negotiation program for years.
The drugmakers said the program violates their due process rights because there is no real negotiation; the companies pay the prices set by the federal government, or they can’t participate in Medicare. Lower courts have rejected those arguments, noting that the companies are free to pull their products from government health programs.
Read more: https://thehill.com/newsletters/health-care/5884107-medicare-price-negotiation-supreme-court/
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