Drugmakers sue Trump over prices in TV ads

Amgen, Eli Lilly and MSD have sued the Trump administration to try and block measures to force pharma companies to include prices in TV ads.

Three of America’s biggest drugmakers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ruling to force pharmaceutical companies to list the prices of their drugs in adverts on TV.

Amgen, Merck and Eli Lilly have said the HHS does not have the legal power to force drugmakers to include prices and that the measure would cause confusion for patients.

“Americans deserve accurate information  about  the  price  they  will  pay  for  prescription drugs,” the lawsuit says.

“This case involves a rule adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that purports to further that objective, but will instead frustrate it—by misleading patients about their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs in a manner that even HHS admits may “confuse” and “intimidate” patients, “discourage patients from using beneficial medications, reduce access, and  potentially  increase  total  cost  of  care.”

Amgen commented in a statement: “Not only does the rule raise serious freedom of speech concerns, it mandates an approach that fails to account for differences among insurance, treatments, and patients themselves, by requiring disclosure of list price.”

Louis Goss