Merck’s Lawsuit Against Drug Price Controls Is Doomed
The pharmaceutical company says provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act violate the Constitution, but no judge is likely to agree.
Taking the government to court.
Photographer: BloombergMerck’s lawsuit seeking to prevent enforcement of the drug pricing provisions adopted last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act makes lots of good arguments against the legislation. But despite oodles of colorful language, the complaint doesn’t seem likely to win the company the injunction it’s hoping for.
Under the IRA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (abbreviated as CMS) will select (in the government’s words) “certain high expenditure, single source Medicare Part B or Part D drugs” and negotiate with the manufacturers to determine what price CMS will pay. The first tranche of 10 drugs will have new prices effective in 2026, 15 more will be added in 2027, and so on. Drugmakers who don’t agree to “fair” prices will be subject to heavy fines.