Chamber of Commerce tries new legal arguments to challenge Medicare drug-price negotiation

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the federal government over its new Medicare drug-price negotiation program on Friday, arguing that Congress tried to take too much power away from the courts.

The lawsuit is the second to challenge the new program, enacted by Democrats last August in the Inflation Reduction Act, within a week’s time, but relies on different legal reasoning. Merck, which makes a diabetes drug that could be subject to negotiation, sued on Tuesday.

Medicare is supposed to choose the first 10 drugs to be negotiated by the program by Sept. 1. The goal of the lawsuits is to slow down, or stop the process from going into effect.

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