Merck was the first pharmaceutical company to file suit against the Inflation Reduction Act in June 2023. But more than a year later, it still doesn’t have a decision.
On Wednesday, the company asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to hurry up.
Merck is now requesting that the court “give priority consideration to resolving this case as soon as practicable.” This way, the company has time to appeal if necessary before the IRA’s “regime of forced sales takes full effect in 2026.”
The government has racked up a string of wins in similar cases challenging Medicare price negotiations in federal district courts brought by Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Merck’s arguments are similar to those that were rejected in Boehringer Ingelheim’s case, but Merck maintains that “the court’s ruling was wrong” in the case of BI.
Earlier this month, Judge Michael Shea found that Boehringer’s participation in the price negotiation program is voluntary and does not constitute a taking of property or a violation of speech. On Wednesday, Merck argued that the “categorical approach is irreconcilable with the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional conditions doctrine,” which limits the government’s power to condition a benefit on the surrender of rights.
The first round of Medicare price negotiations is set to close Aug. 1. The negotiated prices will be announced Sept. 1, though they will not go into effect until 2026.