The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday it will not take up an appeal from a group of drug makers attempting to block negotiations for lower drug prices. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
May 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday it will not take up an appeal from a group of drug makers attempting to block negotiations for lower drug prices.
Several pharmaceutical companies appealed the program that was instituted under the Biden administration to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, the government billions of dollars.
AstraZeneca and Janssen are among the drug companies that challenged the program. Attorneys for AstraZeneca said the program does not lead to real negotiations and they are not being justly compensated.
"Contrary to its statutory name, it involves no genuine 'negotiation,'" the attorneys said. "The manufacturer's only alternative is to withdraw all its drugs from Medicare and Medicaid -- depriving patients nationwide of access to critical medicines and foreclosing nearly half the U.S. prescription-drug market."
