Posted on 06/06/2023 6:39:26 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Global drugmaker Merck on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to substantially reduce drug prices for seniors under the Inflation Reduction Act, the opening salvo in the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to weaken the program.
In a scathing complaint filed in federal district court, Merck excoriated the negotiation process as a “sham” and “tantamount to extortion.”
The drugmaker accused the federal government of employing what the company described as an unconstitutional scheme to take private property for public use without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The company asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block HHS from compelling the drugmaker to enter into any agreement under the program to slash prices and void any agreement the company has been forced to enter into.
“Under the IRA, the Government will requisition Merck’s patented pharmaceutical products and transfer them to Medicare beneficiaries through forced sales,” the company’s legal team wrote in the complaint.
“Those forced sales—coerced by the threat of draconian penalties that the Government has admitted no manufacturer could ever rationally afford to pay—will deprive Merck of possession and title to its personal property,” Merck’s attorneys wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
The gooberment wants to pay them too much right?
I thought so.
Well, that’s what Socialists do...
Guess the schmoize lobby didnt work out this time.
They keep sending millions to Democrats campaigns.
Merck is free not to sell to them if they don’t like their offer.
Trump’s argument was the companies were setting the prices themselves through negotiations abroad and they could just charge everyone else a bit more and find a fairer price for the United States rather than gouging us as a “get healthy” market.
Big Pharma complained they would have to stop innovating on drugs if the US didn’t continue to pay a premium.
“They keep sending millions to Democrats campaigns.”
And the Dems betrayed them. This fight is important, as the slippery slope leads to a Canadian system. Investigate for yourself how much drug development occurs in Canada. People can criticize Pharma, but they have invented many important therapeutics over the past 75 years, and quality of life for those with severe illness has been greatly improved. Socialize Pharma (which is anti-conservative at its heart) and we become Europe and Canada, replete with anemic R&D.
Without a doubt.
The payoff was in the Obamacare deal-
No Negotiation on Drug Prices got all the Pharma Mafia on board - they flooded DC with money and Agency Capture.
“substantially reduce drug prices”
and at the same time, the rate of government spending never goes down.
Ha! Right.....this is nothing but ANOTHER PAY OFF avenue....from XiDen to BigPharma.
Don’t be distracted by the “MediScare” tactic.
Bingo.
“they have invented many important therapeutics over the past 75 years”
Drug development is hitting the point of diminishing returns to society.
Only a small fraction of 1% of Americans would ever need most potential new breakthrough drugs.
This small fraction may benefit greatly, but should American families on average pay say $500/year, $5,000/decade for drugs that are highly unlikely to benefit a member of their family?
In many cases drug developing is like molecular locksmithing. This is not like drug development when I was young, which was a blind hit or miss business.
Nowadays, drug developers generally know their target exactly. The risk is that their molecule might inadvertently screw up another biological pathway.
Society does need better cancer drugs and Biden is the poster president for the need for dementia drugs. These are going to require costly R&D. These large volume drugs will yield billions in profits even if sold at reasonable pricing.
In France an entity offers up a recommended price for a drug.
If the drug company accepts the pricing offer, French insurers must pay for the drug.
If the drug company refuses the pricing offer, French insurers need not pay for the drug, but the drug company is free to sell it to needy French at prices these needy French are willing to pay out of their own pocket.
The original LBJ Medicare did not pay for drugs at all.
“Average annual cost-sharing liability exceeded $10,000 for more than 1 in 10 Part B drugs in this analysis (13% or 36 drugs). While some of the highest-liability drugs were used by relatively few beneficiaries to treat rare conditions, two of these drugs were used by more than 10,000 beneficiaries in 2019: Opdivo, a treatment for several types of cancer used by 30,300 beneficiaries, with average annual cost-sharing liability of $10,200; and Darzalex, a treatment for multiple myeloma used by nearly 12,000 beneficiaries, with average annual cost-sharing liability of $12,900.”
The “$10,000...36 drugs” means they cost the patient and the federal government together over $50,000/year/patient.
How many such patients would or could pay $50,000 for a drug out of their own pocket?
The “negotiation” system that really is really a coercion system is a kluge.
Perhaps an excise tax system would be better. If the average EU selling price is $30,000/year/patient and the US price is $70,000/year/patient, a tax of $40,000 would be due.
The DC people got the idea of ‘negotiation’ from the VA system, where, because of low patient volume, the drug companies were willing to bite and not fight.
“Under the IRA, the Government will requisition Merck’s patented pharmaceutical products and transfer them to Medicare beneficiaries through forced sales”
Is there any reason to doubt that the federal government has eminent domain over intellectual property as well as real property?
The transistor and color TV patents were made subject to compulsory licensing by federal action.
Music is still subject to compulsory licensing.
This.
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