Supreme Court deals blow to Big Pharma

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Supreme Court deals blow to pharma challenge of Medicare price negotiation 

The Supreme Court declined to take up petitions from several of the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies challenging the Medicare drug price negotiation program. 

© Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

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. 

To date, Medicare has negotiated prices for 25 of the highest cost drugs, including GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.  

The Trump administration has been highly critical of the Inflation Reduction Act but has taken ownership of the Medicare price negotiation program, embracing efforts to lower drug prices. 

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