J&J, Bristol Myers Lose Bid to Revive Suit Over Drug Price Talks

Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. suffered a loss Thursday after a federal appeals court ruled that the US government’s drug price negotiation program doesn’t violate their speech or property.

“As our sister courts have recognized, ‘economic hardship is not equivalent to legal compulsion for purposes of takings analysis,’” Judge Arianna Freeman for the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said in an opinion.

The companies also “complain about contract terms they dislike but do not have the bargaining power to convince CMS to remove,” Freeman added. “But the terms of the contracts are meant to ...