John,

In a move that seems to be straight out of a Charles Dickens’ novel, major pharmaceutical company Merck has filed a lawsuit to block the Medicare price negotiations that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last year.

With the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration is undoing decades of injustice, finally allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices on a few medicines, rather than simply paying the exorbitant prices that Big Pharma sets.

This reform was long overdue—but Merck is suing the federal government to stop the law from taking effect, claiming that Medicare price negotiations are a “sham” and a form of “extortion.”¹

Pharmaceutical companies have been ripping off Medicare—and US taxpayers—for years. We applaud Congress and President Biden for fighting back and putting Seniors ahead of Big Pharma’s greed. Click here to send a direct message to the CEO of Merck, Robert M. Davis, telling him to drop the lawsuit and let Medicare negotiate prices.

Negotiating lower medication prices for seniors who are living on a fixed income is not “extortion,” it’s just simple fairness. In 2022, Merck reported sales of $59.3 billion—an increase of 22% from the year prior, and they expect 2023 revenue to be between $57.2 billion and $58.7 billion.²

Other countries negotiate for lower drug prices, which is why the U.S. spent $1,126 per capita on prescription medications vs. $522 per capita in comparable countries.³ This is nothing more than pure corporate greed at the expense of older Americans and people with disabilities.

The law is on the people’s side. Tell Merck CEO Robert M. Davis to stop his greedy lawsuit and lower drug prices now!

Thank you for all you do to hold corporations accountable,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Merck sues over Medicare price negotiations
² Merck’s Q4 and full-year 2022 earnings report
³ How do prescription drug costs in the United States compare to other countries?