John,

For the last two decades, Medicare was forced to accept any price Big Pharma set for prescription medicines. With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Biden administration has undone 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.

Big Pharma isn't used to losing policy fights. And they freaked out.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Merck, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Co., and Novo Nordisk have filed lawsuits attempting to block drug price negotiation provisions under the Inflation Reduction Act.

CHN Action has joined with allies and activists from across the country to demand the CEO’s at these pharmaceutical companies withdraw their lawsuits and allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

If you are also outraged by this vile show of corporate greed, add your name to demand Big Pharma CEOs drop their lawsuits and stop exploiting vulnerable people.

While Big Pharma fights to keep medication prices high, they continue to rake in major profits while paying very little in taxes. For the 3rd Quarter of 2023, manufacturers for the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation under the IRA made $100.7 billion in revenue and spent $19.96 billion of that revenue enriching shareholders via stock buybacks.¹ That’s money that could have been used for research and development or used to lower costs for consumers. Instead, Big Pharma is using its massive profits to manipulate stock prices and further enrich the already wealthy.

These corporations are also exploiting loopholes in the tax code. And thanks to the 2017 tax cuts that cut corporate tax rates to 21%, those same companies ended up paying an average effective U.S. tax rate of just 11.6%―a 40% decrease from years prior to the 2017 tax cuts.²

In their lawsuit, pharmaceutical giant, Merck, called the Medicare price negotiations a “sham” and a form of “extortion.”³ Negotiating lower medication prices for seniors who are living on fixed incomes is not “extortion,” it’s just simple fairness.

Despite Medicare being the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in the world, drug corporations’ prices under Medicare Part D are significantly higher than those paid in other countries. The U.S. spends $1,126 per capita on prescription medications vs. $522 per capita in comparable countries.⁴

Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices is a critical step toward making medications more affordable for millions of Americans, especially seniors and those with limited financial resources. Big Pharma's actions undermine the fundamental principle that everyone deserves the medication they need at prices they can afford.

Join us in calling on the CEO’s of major pharmaceutical companies to withdraw their lawsuits that attempt to block Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ Greed Watch: Big Drug Companies Continue to Bring In Hundreds of Billions While Americans Struggle to Afford Skyrocketing Prices
² American Patients, American Companies, Offshore Profits Senate Finance Committee Democratic Staff Memorandum, May 11, 2023
³ Merck sues over Medicare price negotiations
⁴ How do prescription drug costs in the United States compare to other countries?