J&J sues Biden administration over Medicare drug negotiations

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, making it the third pharmaceutical company to challenge the controversial provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.  

The lawsuit filed in federal district court in New Jersey argues the Medicare negotiations violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Earlier suits brought separately by Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s largest lobbying group, made similar arguments.

J&J said its suit aims to stop the “innovation-damaging congressional overreach that threatens the United States’ primacy in developing transformative therapies and in patients’ access to those treatments.”

The policy aims to make drugs more affordable for older Americans but will likely reduce pharmaceutical industry profits. 

The Health and Human Services Department, which is named as the defendant in the lawsuits, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.