Analysis-Drugmakers could find sympathetic US Supreme Court in drug pricing lawsuits
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) — Drugmakers challenging a Biden administration program requiring them to negotiate with Medicare over the prices of selected costly drugs may not have a clear legal precedent on their side, but there are signs they could get a friendly hearing from the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts said.
Even before the administration announced the first ten drugs for inclusion in the program on Tuesday, drug companies and industry groups had sued the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in an effort to derail it.
Eight lawsuits are pending in courts across the country, before liberal and conservative judges alike, setting up the possibility of a conflict that will push the issue to the nation's top court.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law who has written publicly in support of the program, said he believed the lawsuits had «very little merit» but could nonetheless be persuasive to the Supreme Court's conservative judges.
«The court has shown a considerable hostility to federal agency action, particularly when they are trying to do big things,» he said, pointing to the court's ruling last year limiting the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate carbon emissions.
CMS is expected to soon begin the negotiations for lower prices on the 10 drugs that will take effect in 2026. The program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, aims to save $25 billion per year on prescription medicines by 2031.
The drugs are some of the most lucrative on the market, including Bristol Myers (NYSE:BMY) Squibb's blood thinner Eliquis, Novartis (SIX:NOVN)' heart failure treatment Entresto and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)'s diabetes drug Farxiga.
Those
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