The Chamber said in court documents filed Wednesday that its members would “suffer unrecoverable economic losses” if an injunction was not issued.
Medicare price negotiations are set to take place over the course of 2023 and 2024, with the established prices not expected to go into effect until the start of 2026.
Still, the Chamber may be motivated to pause the program as soon as possible, before negotiations get too far underway. The first 10 drugs eligible for negotiation are announced in September.
Apart from the financial implications, the Chamber argued that even if its members could recoup the supposed financial losses they would endure by raising the prices of other products, the “loss of customer goodwill” would still amount to irreparable harm.
The PR implications certainly present a tricky balancing act for the plaintiffs challenging drug price negotiation, particularly when the savings for Medicare could be enormous.
On Wednesday, KFF released an analysis that found the 10 top-selling drugs under Medicare Part D accounted for almost a quarter of gross spending in 2021, demonstrating the financial impact that only a few products can have.
The White House has held firm that it believes the law is on its side when it comes to Medicare price negotiation, though the Chamber argued in its motion for an injunction that its lawsuit was “likely to succeed on the merits of their due process claim.”
There are currently three other lawsuits challenging the program — from Merck & Co., Bristol Myers Squibb and PhRMA — and this is the first move by any of the plaintiffs to block implementing negotiations while a case is being heard.
