AbbVie’s Role in Drug Price Talks Drives HHS Legal Argument

A disagreement about whether AbbVie Inc. is legally required to negotiate lower prices with Medicare dominated oral arguments Friday on the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the US Chamber of Commerce and some of its state affiliates.

The Chamber, whose member AbbVie markets the cancer drug Imbruvica, is asking a federal judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to pause the Medicare drug price negotiation program put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act. Department of Justice attorneys want the case to be dismissed, arguing the Chamber’s alleged injuries are speculative, it ...