The German pharmaceutical company Merck sued the US government on Tuesday. for his plan to reduce the prices of subsidized medicine and described the negotiation process with the authorities as “extortion”.
In its lawsuit, the firm asked the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from forcing it to accept a price-lowering settlement under the Price Reduction Act. Inflation.
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The complaint described the negotiation process with the government as a “farce” that “almost amounts to extortion.” The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress in 2022 when Democrats still held a majority in the House of Representatives, was signed into law by President Joe Biden and marked one of the greatest achievements of his presidential tenure.
The legislation gave the government’s Medicare program, a subsidy program for people over 65, the powers to counteract increases in drug prices. The agency will select 10 drugs for a first round of price negotiations.
The company claims that the law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution by forcing it to say it agrees with the prices set by the government and to say that the price is fair. Also, according to the complaint, the law violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which requires the government to provide appropriate compensation when it seizes private property.
The drugs include some included in the so-called Section D of Medicare, which is the area where these health subsidies spend most of their resources and where there is no competition from generic compounds.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will publish its list of selected drugs on September 1 and the pharmaceutical companies that produce them will have a deadline in October to sign their agreement to participate in the negotiations.
Merck indicated that its diabetes drugs Januvia and Janumet, and the cancer treatment compound Keytruda, would be subject to negotiations.
In its lawsuit, Merck alleged that HHS forces pharmaceutical companies to enter a process that will dictate prices with discounts from 25% to 60%, under the threat of taxes, which are several times more onerous than the income obtained. for the sale of these drugs.
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“Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the government will requisition Merck’s patented pharmaceuticals and transfer them to Medicare beneficiaries through forced sales,” the lawsuit added.
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