PhRMA Sues to Block Medicare Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Rule
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America filed a lawsuit to block a Trump administration rule that benchmarks Medicare drug prices against overseas costs.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to block the Trump administration's most-favored-nation pricing rule. Known as the GLOBE rule, the policy seeks to benchmark US drug prices for Medicare Part B patients against lower costs found in comparable overseas countries.
PhRMA argues that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services exceeded its statutory authority by attempting to rewrite the pricing structure of Medicare without approval from Congress. In response, the United States Department of Health and Human Services maintains that the rule operates within a purpose-specific statutory framework designed by Congress for model testing.
The potential impact of the rule has diminished as the administration signed separate deals with more than two dozen drugmakers, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk, to exempt them from the model. Consequently, the Department of Health and Human Services now estimates the program will save approximately $440 million over seven years, a sharp decline from the original projection of $11.9 billion.
