Merck sues U.S. government over plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices, claiming "extortion"
CBSN
Drugmaker Merck is suing the U.S. government over its plan to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for a handful of drugs, calling it "extortion."
The plan, part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, is expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars on common drugs the government pays for. The law directs the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to select 10 drugs with no generic or biosimilar equivalents to be subject to government price negotiation. (The list will eventually expand to 20 drugs.)
In its lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia, Merck called the program "a sham" that "involves neither genuine 'negotiations' nor real 'agreements.'" Instead, the pharmaceutical firm said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selects drugs to be included and then dictates a discount, threatening drugmakers with "a ruinous daily excise tax" if they refuse the conditions.
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