The seal of america Chamber of Commerce is on display throughout the renovation on the headquarters in Washington, D.C
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The US Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Ohio to block Medicare’s recent powers to negotiate drug prices before October 1.
The preliminary injunction request represents a big escalation within the drug industry’s legal battle with Medicare and would stop talks before starting this fall.
Health and Social Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will publish a listing of 10 expensive drugs by September 1, which will likely be chosen for negotiations. Drugmakers then have until October to resolve whether to sign agreements to take part in the talks.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and native chambers of commerce in Dayton, Ohio and Michigan sued Medicare in federal court within the Southern District of Ohio in June. They argued that the drug negotiations violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Structure, in addition to the separation of powers.
The House asked Judge Thomas Rose on Wednesday to block the negotiations before they begin because they violate the due process clause.
Drug manufacturer abbvie, a member of the U.S. House and District Chamber in Dayton, Ohio, is anxious that her blood cancer drug, Imbruvica, will likely be chosen for negotiation this fall. Imbruvica generated $4.6 billion in revenue last yr, or about 8% of the corporate’s total sales.
The chamber argued in its motion Wednesday that the secretary of HHS has “freedom to set prices unilaterally” without administrative or judicial review.
The chamber said the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals set a precedent that when the federal government sets prices, it must provide procedural safeguards to ensure the corporate gets an affordable rate and a good return on investment. This precedent stems from a 2001 case of Michigan Bell Telephone Co. v. Engler, House lawyers said.
Medicare drug price negotiations fail to provide these protections and impose price caps which can be well below the drug’s market value, lawyers for the chamber said.
Abbvie chief executive Michael Staff, in a press release filed with the court on Wednesday, said the drugmaker would suffer severe, concrete and irreparable harm if the corporate had to sign a deal on October 1 to take part in the negotiations.
Businesses must start submitting information to the HHS secretary on October 2. Staff said these include proprietary information and trade secrets resembling research and development costs, market data and manufacturing costs.
Merck, Bristol Myers Squibband Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America also sued Medicare over drug pricing negotiations in multiple federal courts spread across america
HHS and the White House pledged to defend this system in court, arguing that there may be nothing within the Structure to prevent Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for seniors.