Press Releases | August 7, 2025
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stood with a lower court’s 2024 decision ruling against Boehringer Ingelheim
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In yet another decisive win for patients, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Boehringer Ingelheim’s attempt to block Medicare’s authority to negotiate lower drug prices. This marks the second win in less than 24 hours against pharma’s multi-million dollar legal campaign against the Medicare Negotiation Program and the 11th ruling in favor of patients overall.
The three-judge panel — which included two judges appointed by President Trump and one Clinton appointee — affirmed last July’s lower court decision that the Medicare Negotiation Program is fully constitutional and lawful. The court found that drugmakers are not being coerced into participating and that their involvement is entirely voluntary. The court further emphasized that pharmaceutical companies cannot claim constitutional violations simply because they dislike the terms of doing business with the government.
In response to the ruling, P4AD Executive Director Merith Basey released the following statement:
“It’s the U.S. versus Pharma, and today’s decision is another clear win for patients. The ruling affirms what we’ve known all along: Big Pharma’s legal arguments are baseless, and their scare tactics are failing. Medicare negotiation is set to deliver lower prices to more than 9 million patients across the nation in less than six months, and the popular program is standing strong against the industry’s legal attacks. Pharma hired some of the most expensive lawyers in the world to block this program, and they’ve lost yet again.”
This ruling comes just hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected a challenge against the Medicare Negotiation program brought by various Chambers of Commerce. It’s the latest defeat for Big Pharma and its allies, who are working to overturn a law supported by over 80% of Americans and set to deliver lower drug prices for millions of people on Medicare starting this January — a historic milestone in the fight to lower drug costs.
Patients For Affordable Drugs has submitted four amicus briefs on behalf of patients — including one in this case — and signed onto seven briefs led by Public Citizen and supported by Protect Our Care, Doctors for America, and Families USA to support the government’s opposition to the lawsuits and amplify the experiences of patients harmed by high drug prices.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies that lower prescription drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients by amplifying their experiences with high drug prices to hold those in power to account and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org.