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Findings Come as Drug Company Leading the Legal Assault, AstraZeneca, Boasts 6% Bump in Quarterly Earnings

Washington D.C. – Earlier this month, pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Janssen (wholly owned by Johnson & Johnson) filed appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit after their lawsuits seeking to block Medicare’s new authority to negotiate lower drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act were tossed out in federal courts. Then last week, special interest groups filed a flurry of amicus briefs in the 3rd Circuit attacking Medicare’s negotiation authority including the Washington Legal Foundation, Manhattan Institute, Biotechnology Innovation Organization, and Alliance for Aging Research.

A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US found that while these amicus brief filers dressed up their support for industry with supposed neutral concerns about constitutionality and debunked claims about harm to innovation, these groups failed to mention they have collectively taken nearly $4.8 million from PhRMA since 2019. 

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These special interest groups pushing federal judges to block Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for millions of seniors neglect to mention they’re practically on PhRMA’s payroll. Their real ‘concern’ is for their industry donors that insist on padding profits by charging patients whatever they please on life-saving medicine."

Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk

Profits Above Patients: The new analysis comes as AstraZeneca announced nearly $2B in Q2 2024 earnings today – a 6 percent jump as the company continues to overcharge patients for Farxiga, a drug which treats diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Farxiga is one of the first 10 drugs impacted by the Biden administration’s cost lowering program which has cost Medicare nearly $6 billion as of 2022—an average of $4,046 per patient. Farxiga has increased in price by 54% since its launch in 2014. And last week, Johnson and Johnson, another drug company appealing in the 3rd Circuit against Medicare’s negotiation authority, beat Wall Street expectations with $4.7 billion in Q2 2024 earnings while seeing U.S. sales jump by 8%. 

“The big drug companies leading the legal assault against the historic Biden-Harris administration prescription drug affordability program continue to brag of bigger and bigger profits as they charge more and more for vital medicines. That certainly doesn’t help industry’s case that offering more reasonable prices will be their ruin,” added Carrk.

 While industry continues to fight implementation of Medicare’s new negotiation power, the Biden-Harris new program is expected to save nearly 19 million seniors and other Medicare Part D enrollees $400 a year by 2025. 

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