Court Rebuffs Merck's Challenge to Medicare Price Negotiation Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) drug price negotiation program has survived another round of court challenges from pharmaceutical companies. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Washington, D.C., rejected a lawsuit brought by Merck & Co.

The company argued that the price negotiations are unconstitutional because they violate the First and Fifth Amendments. However, the court ruled against Merck, finding that companies are free to determine whether they participate in the program.

This decision adds to a series of defeats drugmakers have suffered in attempting to challenge the government's price negotiation rules since they were introduced in 2022. Last week, a federal court in Maryland dismissed an AstraZeneca lawsuit, which alleged that the government grouped too many of its drugs together to reach a benchmark that made them eligible for the price reduction program.

The losses have been met with celebration from advocacy groups, such as Patients for Affordable Drugs. Director of media and communications Emma Sands said in a statement that the pharma industry has spent three years and millions of dollars fighting to overturn a program she argued is 'overwhelmingly supported by American patients and Taxpayers.'