First Lawsuit Against US Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiations Filed by Merck

June 6, 2023

The pharma giant Merck & Co has filed a lawsuit against the US government over upcoming Medicare drug pricing negotiations included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year. The company argues that the negotiations would violate their 5th Amendment rights by forcing them to provide drugs at prices lower than market value.

According to Michael Erman, “Merck called the talks with CMS coercive and forces drugmakers to participate in “political Kabuki theater” by pretending negotiations are voluntary. ‘This is not ‘negotiation.’ It is tantamount to extortion,’ Merck said in the suit. The drugmaker also argues that the law will force companies to sign agreements conceding that the prices are fair, which it claims is a violation of the First Amendment’s protections of free speech.”

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(Source: Reuters, June 6th, 2023)

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