The brand new legislation would enable Medicare to start out negotiating costs in 2026, which the White Home expects to avoid wasting taxpayers $25 billion yearly by 2031. Medicare has till Sept. 1 to announce the primary 10 high-cost medication for which it’ll negotiate on behalf of seniors.
Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer promote Eliquis. In 2021, the latest 12 months for which knowledge is offered, the Medicare Half D program spent $12.6 billion on the blood thinner, greater than on every other drug, in line with the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers.
After the lawsuit was filed, Bristol Myers Squibb referred The Washington Publish to an announcement that characterised the brand new legislation as unconstitutional and “unhealthy for innovation.”
Defendants named within the lawsuit embody the Division of Well being and Human Providers, Secretary of Well being Xavier Becerra and the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however prior to now it has defended the brand new legislation on drug value negotiations.
“There may be nothing within the Structure that forestalls Medicare from negotiating decrease drug costs,” White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned this month.
Pharmaceutical firms argue {that a} discount in drug costs would result in much less funding within the growth of recent therapies, a line of protection that has been echoed by drugmakers for a lot of the previous decade.
Bristol Myers Squibb final 12 months posted $6.3 billion in web earnings on income of $46.2 billion, in line with monetary filings. That features $7.8 billion in U.S. income from Eliquis, up 21 p.c from 2021.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has additionally sued the federal government over the price-cutting plan.
