AbbVie Loses Latest Bid to Block Mississippi Drug Discount Law

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie Inc. came up short again Friday in its bid to block a Mississippi law that requires manufacturers to steeply discount medicines to an unlimited number of pharmacies.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision to not enter a preliminary injunction against the state law (H.B.728). The law, which took effect in July 2024, outlaws any effort to deny, restrict, or prohibit drug discounts to pharmacies that contract with providers in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The drugmaker couldn’t convince the appeals panel that ...