The pharmaceutical industry is now waging a broad-based assault on Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, including the measure to negotiate Medicare drug prices — just as the negotiations are about to begin. Via the New York Times:
On Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson became the latest drugmaker to take the Biden administration to federal court in an attempt to put a halt to the drug pricing program. Three other drug companies — Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma — have filed their own lawsuits, as have the industry’s main trade group and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The suits make similar and overlapping claims that the drug pricing provisions are unconstitutional. They are scattered in federal courts around the country — a tactic that experts say gives the industry a better chance of obtaining conflicting rulings that will put the legal challenges on a fast track to a business-friendly Supreme Court.
The legal push comes just weeks before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is scheduled to publish a long-awaited list of the first 10 drugs that will be subject to negotiations. The list is due out by Sept. 1; the makers of the selected drugs have until Oct. 1 to declare whether they will participate in negotiations — or face steep financial penalties for not doing so. The lower prices will not take effect until 2026.
According to the Institute for New Economic Thinking, from 2000-2019, U.S. spending on pharmaceuticals increased from $253 to $345 billion. We the people fund their new drug development, despite industry claims that their prices are so high because they're developing new drugs.
If we know this, I'm sure Joe Biden does, too. Be a shame if he pulled all that funding, wouldn't it?
