ALPMF - Astellas withdraws federal lawsuit over Medicare drug pricing
2023-09-07 15:39:56 ET
Japanese drugmaker Astellas ( OTCPK:ALPMF ) has withdrawn a federal lawsuit that challenged the US government’s right to negotiate drug prices for its Medicare program, but maintained the newly instituted policy was unconstitutional.
Astellas was one of several drugmakers to file suit over the program, which was established under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, with many arguing that it was unconstitutional and would discourage investment in drug development.
“Our decision to withdraw the case does not change our fundamental belief that in its current form, the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program created by the IRA is bad policy and unconstitutional,” Astellas said in a statement released Thursday.
Astellas had filed the suit in federal court in July. At the time, analysts had speculated that its prostate cancer drug would be on the list of drugs the government intended to negotiate first. The drug ended up not making the list, according to a Reuters report.
In addition to Astellas, Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ), Merck ( MRK ), Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) and AstraZeneca ( AZN ) also filed lawsuits over the drug pricing program. All of the companies had drugs that made the list of the first 10 medications to be subject to Medicare price negotiations.
PhRMA, a leading drug industry trade group, and the US Chamber of Commerce have also filed suits.
More on Medicare drug pricing:
- Medicare lists first ten drugs selected for pricing negotiations
- Why is big pharma unmoved despite Medicare pricing threat?
- Wall Street lists potential targets for Medicare drug price negotiations
- Lawsuits unlikely to hinder Medicare drug price negotiations – UBS
- Merck sues US Government to halt Medicare drug pricing program
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Astellas withdraws federal lawsuit over Medicare drug pricing