Judge rules against Trump on drug pricing disclosures

[Islander]

Nathaniel Weixel
07/08/19

A federal judge on Monday sided with a coalition of drug companies and blocked the Trump administration from implementing a policy that would require prescription drug manufacturers to disclose list prices in TV ads.
The pharmaceutical companies — Amgen, Merck, and Eli Lilly — were joined in the lawsuit by the Association of National Advertisers. The rule was scheduled to take effect Tuesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta in Washington, D.C., agreed with the drug companies that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) does not have the authority to compel drug companies to disclose prices.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...ng-disclosures

[Julieanne]

What convoluted thinking - my brain hurt, reading through that! Alice in Wonderland comes to mind.

[Mr. Wizard]

This shows the collective power of BigPharma. And, its power will continue to grow. One thing that makes the pharmaceutical industry strong is concentration of power in just a few major companies. Between 1995 and 2015, over 60 pharmaceutical companies "merged" into just 10 companies. The smaller companies just continue to merge with the behemoths in the industry and bigger companies get bigger and bigger and possess even more power. Where's the government and the enforcement of the "anti-trust" laws????? This is why--and how--a federal judge is able to rule on the side of BigPharma.