Bristol Myers Squibb joins in on challenging Medicare drug price negotiation program

U.S. pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) on Friday became the latest group to file a legal challenge to the Medicare drug price bargaining program mandated by the Inflation Act (IRA).

The lawsuit mirrors complaints filed by Merck and the Chamber of Commerce alleging that the IRA’s provisions that give Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.

“The IRA does this by requiring BMS and other pharmaceutical companies to offer their innovative medicines to third parties at government-set prices that reflect fair market value. BMS does not make any claims that the

“The IRA forces manufacturers of innovative medicines to declare that government pricing was genuine negotiation that resulted in fair prices, even if they weren’t. Article 1 protects the public from just this kind of coercive speech,” the company added.

BMS condemned the creation of an “unprecedented system” that would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “determine the prices at which drug companies will compulsorily sell.”

Pharmaceutical companies are not strictly required to engage Medicare in negotiating drug prices. Companies that don’t want to get involved have the option of facing heavy excise tax penalties or withdrawing all drugs from Medicare and Medicaid coverage and losing a lucrative revenue stream.

As with previous complaints, BMS seeks to declare the IRA’s drug price bargaining clause unconstitutional, to prevent the federal government from “coercing” companies to sign manufacturer contracts, and to seek legal action under this program. It requires that any contract entered into under a contract be declared void. void.

The Biden administration has so far characterized these lawsuits as typical outrages of the pharmaceutical industry.

“Every time the industry’s interests are threatened, the industry claims it is a hindrance to its ability to innovate. Not only are these arguments false, but the American public does not accept them.” When Merck announced the lawsuit last week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:

An HHS spokesperson told The Hill in response to news of the Chamber of Commerce lawsuit that the government intends to “strongly defend the president’s drug price negotiation law.”