Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday, joining others trying to prevent a program that allows Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, argues that the Medicare drug price negotiation program mandated by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will cut profits and hinder the development of groundbreaking treatments.
The lawsuit argues that the IRA undermines the U.S. innovation ecosystem, supported by federal law for decades.
“The U.S. innovation ecosystem to which Janssen contributes has two vital components, both of which are severely threatened by the Program. The first is the bargain at the heart of the patent and regulatory laws: when companies invest in and secure FDA approval for new treatments, they receive time-limited and constitutionally safeguarded protections, including the exclusive rights to make and sell the new treatment,” the lawsuit states (pdf)….