Solicitor General Urges Supreme Court to Deny Review of AstraZeneca’s Challenge to Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Solicitor General’s office filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to deny AstraZeneca’s petition challenging the constitutionality of the Medicare Negotiation Program, forcefully defending the program and rejecting the drugmaker’s claims outright.

The filing responds to AstraZeneca’s effort to overturn a 2024 appeals court ruling that upheld the program. The petition is part of a broader pharmaceutical industry legal campaign seeking to block Medicare from negotiating lower prices. AstraZeneca manufactures Farxiga and Calquence, drugs included in the first and second rounds of negotiation, with Farxiga’s new lower price going into effect yesterday. 

The Solicitor General’s brief includes the following statements:  

• “The federal government regularly negotiates the prices it pays for goods, and drug manufacturers have no property interest in forcing the government to pay for prescription drugs on specific terms.”

• “American taxpayers have been spending too much on high-cost prescription drugs, and the government has a strong interest in controlling federal spending to promote the general welfare.”
• “In the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress empowered the HHS Secretary, acting through CMS, to negotiate the prices Medicare pays for certain drugs, as the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies have done for decades.”
• “Petitioners’ assertion that they have a due process right to sell their drugs to Medicare beneficiaries at their preferred price lacks merit.”

AstraZeneca now has approximately 14 days to file its reply brief.

In response, Merith Basey, CEO of Patients For Affordable Drugs, issued the following statement: 

“After decades of patients being grossly overcharged by greedy pharmaceutical companies for their prescription drugs, Medicare now has the power to negotiate, and the federal government is defending that authority at the highest level. The Solicitor General’s brief sends a clear signal that this program is on solid legal footing. If the Supreme Court rejects Astrazeneca’s petition in line with decisions from the lower courts, millions of patients across the country will benefit from long-overdue lower prices on their life-saving drugs”

On January 1, Medicare began delivering lower prices for the first time under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. These new prices apply to the first round of negotiated drugs and are projected to save 9 million people on Medicare $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs, while saving taxpayers $6 billion in 2026 alone. The pharmaceutical industry’s lawsuits seek to overturn this progress and block Medicare from negotiating future prices — threatening both the savings already taking effect and the broader reforms Americans overwhelmingly support. 

Patients For Affordable Drugs has submitted five amicus briefs 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.

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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.