Chamber of Commerce Is Denied an Injunction to Halt Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

Happy to do the bidding of Big Pharma, the US Chamber of Commerce sued the Biden Administration to stop the Drug Price Negotiation Program created by the federal Inflation Reduction Act,  42  U.S.C.  §§ 1320(f), et  seq in its tracks on the theory that this program violates due process. The Chamber was joined by a handful of affiliates -- along with AbbVie, Inc., manufacturer of the lucrative Imbruvica (used to treat Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL)) and is one of eight such suits filed around the country.

On Friday a Trump appointee in the Southern District of Ohio denied the Chamber's motion for a preliminary injunction, as well as the government's motion to dismiss. The opinion is a Civil Procedure teacher's dreams, covering such juicy first-years topics as:

• subject-matter jurisdiction
• standing, especially associational standing
• ripeness
• the standards for a preliminary injunction, especially irreparable harm if denied and likelihood of prevailing on the merits.

Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce v. Becerra, S.D. Ohio, September 29, 2023, No. 323cv00156SDOh/5.

It's hard to say how long this victory for HHS will last. Plaintiffs were ordered to file an amended complaint by October 13, and HHS will have until October 27 to respond, so it will be at least November before there's another ruling. Meanwhile, discovery will continue.