Appeals Court Revives Lawsuit Against Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Requirement

Suit challenges program that imposes fines on drug manufacturers that won’t deal with the government.

A high-speed production line of insulin at the factory of Novo Nordisk, a global health care company, in Chartres, France, on Feb. 17, 2014. Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images

A federal appeals court has revived a legal challenge to the first-ever U.S. law requiring pharmaceutical companies to negotiate drug prices with Medicare, the government’s health insurance program that covers 66 million people.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Sept. 20 reversed an earlier decision from a federal judge.