NEW YORK -Merck & Co sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, seeking to halt the Medicare drug price negotiation program contained in the Inflation Reduction Act , which it argues violates the Fifth and First Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that under the law, drugmakers would be forced to negotiate prices for drugs at below market rates. Merck called the talks with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coercive and said it forces drugmakers to participate in "political Kabuki theater" by pretending negotiations are voluntary.The drugmaker also argues that the law will force companies to sign agreements conceding that the prices are fair, which it claims is a violation of the First Amendment's protections of free speech.