J&J, Bristol Myers Squibb lose Medicare drug-price talks challenges [Video]

A federal judge in New Jersey on Monday rejected Johnson & Johnson‘s and Bristol Myers Squibb‘s legal challenges to the Biden administration’s Medicare drug-price negotiations, ruling that the program is constitutional. 

The decision is another win for the White House in a bitter legal fight with several drugmakers over the price talks. The ruling also weakens the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy of seeking split decisions in lower courts scattered across the U.S., which could escalate the issue to the Supreme Court. 

Medicare drug-price negotiations are a key policy under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that aims to make costly medications more affordable for seniors. In doing so, it could take a bite out of drugmakers’ profits. Final negotiated prices for the first round of drugs subject to the talks, which includes one each from J&J and Bristol Myers, will go into effect in 2026. 

J&J and Bristol Myers Squibb did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. 

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