News and Reports | August 24, 2026
Today’s decision marks the 24th ruling against Big Pharma and in favor of patients.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Merck’s challenge to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, handing patients another major legal victory and rejecting another pharmaceutical corporation’s attempt to dismantle the historic program that’s already lowering costs for millions of Americans.
Merck was the first pharmaceutical company to file a lawsuit after the program became law in 2022. That company argued that the program violated its First and Fifth Amendment rights. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected those arguments, finding that Merck’s participation in the program is voluntary.
“The first drug company to sue to stop Medicare negotiation has now met the same fate as every other pharmaceutical corporation whose claims have been decided on the merits: defeat,” said Emma Sands, P4AD’s Director of Media & Communications. “For more than three years, the pharmaceutical industry has spent millions of dollars trying to overturn a program overwhelmingly supported by American patients and taxpayers. Again and again, their arguments have failed in the courtroom. This is a win for patients who fought for this program and are already seeing the lower prices it delivers.”
Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia was among the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation. Its negotiated price took effect in January, dropping from a 2023 list price of $527 for a 30-day supply to $113 under the negotiation program — a 79% price reduction. Lower negotiated prices for the first 10 drugs are projected to save 9 million people on Medicare $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs this year alone. Additional rounds of negotiation are underway, with more drugs set to see lower prices in the coming years.
Today’s ruling comes one week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Teva Pharmaceuticals’ core statutory and constitutional challenges to the negotiation program, upholding Medicare’s authority to treat Austedo and Austedo XR as a single drug for negotiation and rejecting Teva’s constitutional claim. The appeals court sent one narrower issue concerning generic competition back to the district court for further consideration. In May, the Supreme Court declined to hear petitions from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Patients For Affordable Drugs has submitted six amicus briefs in these cases on behalf of patients 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. You can find more information at fightpharma.org.
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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