WASHINGTON D.C. — Dealing another major blow to Big Pharma’s coordinated legal assault on Medicare negotiation, on Wednesday, July 3rd, a federal judge in Connecticut ruled against Boehringer Ingelheim’s legal challenge to Medicare’s authority to negotiate lower drug prices.
Chief Judge Michael P. Shea denied the company’s claims that the Medicare negotiation program is unconstitutional, including arguments that it violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process and taking clauses, the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause, and First Amendment rights. This crucial win for patients continues a series of setbacks for the pharmaceutical industry and its allies, marking the fifth consecutive time a federal court has rejected legal challenges to the Medicare negotiation program under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Merith Basey, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs, issued the following statement:
“Once again, a drug company brought its high-priced lawyers to lay out its arguments against Medicare negotiation, and once again they have lost. This ruling against Boehringer Ingelheim marks the fifth consecutive legal victory for patients who have long awaited relief from Big Pharma’s monopoly control over drug prices. Judge Shea’s ruling reaffirms the fair and voluntary nature of the negotiation process, emphasizing that drug companies can remain profitable while lowering prices.
“It’s truly US v Big Pharma. Patients For Affordable Drugs stands firm in our commitment to defending the hard-won Medicare negotiation program against Big Pharma’s relentless attempts to undermine it at the expense of patients.”
Boehringer Ingelheim’s diabetes and heart failure drug Jardiance is one of the first 10 drugs to face Medicare negotiation. In 2023 alone, Boehringer Ingelheim made $8 billion in sales from Jardiance.
This ruling represents a victory for patients like Joy from Saint Joseph, Michigan, who lives on a fixed income and has difficulty affording her Jardiance prescription because of the cost. After negotiation, a month’s supply of Jardiance could be reduced to $152, allowing Joy, and the 1,321,000 other patients on Medicare who take Jardiance, to access this essential medication at a more affordable price.
Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW has signed onto seven amicus briefs, including in Boehringer’s case, led by Public Citizen and supported by Protect Our Care, Doctors for America, and Families USA to support the government’s objection to the lawsuits and amplify the experiences of patients harmed by high drug prices.
Background on Medicare negotiation:
- The average annual prescription cost for people on Medicare Part D taking Jardiance is $4,487.
- The 10 drugs chosen for negotiation were identified as the top spending drugs covered under Medicare Part D without generic or biosimilar equivalents that have been on the market for at least seven years and also meet other selection criteria.
- The negotiation process will currently only apply to a maximum of 10-15 drugs each year. And even after reforms take effect, Medicare will continue to be the largest purchaser of prescription drugs, maintaining its status as a significant source of revenue for drug companies, and Americans will still pay the highest drug prices globally.
- Unlike every other sector in health care where Medicare sets prices such as doctor fees, hospital costs, and equipment, pharmaceutical companies have been exempt from any form of negotiation.
- Medicare negotiation is supported by more than 80 percent of voters.
- P4AD launched the US v Pharma campaign to mobilize patients and advocates to defend the hard-won victory of Medicare negotiation against Big Pharma’s multi-million dollar legal efforts to halt the program from delivering relief to patients.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national, bipartisan patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on lowering drug prices. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org.
