Trump’s HHS Rejects PhRMA’s Challenge to Drug Price Excise Tax

The Trump administration is supporting a Biden-era position against the drug industry’s claim that the US government violated the law by imposing an excise tax on companies that refuse to participate in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and two other health associations fail to prove that the government’s excise tax on drugmakers violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines, which forces them to comply with the drug program.

“The excise tax is not a ‘fine’ covered by the Eighth Amendment because it ...