Johnson & Johnson Takes Legal Action Against Biden Administration Over Drug Prices

Johnson & Johnson is joining the other major pharmaceutical company in challenging President Biden's administration’s Inflation Reduction Act which gives Medicare more powers to trim down prices of medicines.

This week, Johnson & Johnson sued the government to fight the Medicare drug price negotiation. According to CNBC, the lawsuit was filed at a New Jersey federal district court, and the company stated the Medicare negotiations are a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Prior to Johnson & Johnson’s lawsuit filing, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb have also brought their respective complaint to the court for the same case. It was reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA have also made similar disputes against the controversial IRA provision.

In its complaint, the New Jersey-headquartered pharmaceutical company asked the court to stop the U.S. Health and Human Services Department from forcing them to be involved in the program.

“Today, we filed litigation against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to challenge the innovation-damaging drug pricing provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. “The IRA breaks the agreement at the heart of the patent and regulatory laws: when companies invest and succeed at developing innovative new treatments, they are awarded time-limited and constitutionally protected rights in their innovation.”

It added, “With the implementation of the IRA, the government is forcing Janssen to provide its innovative, patented medicines on pricing terms that by law must be significantly below market prices. We have a responsibility to challenge the current version of the law to protect our ability to continue developing transformative medicines for patients now and in the future.”

Photo by: Johnson & Johnson Media Center