comprehensive

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Delaware on Friday ruled against AstraZeneca in a case challenging the constitutionality of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program.

Colm Connolly, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Delaware, ruled against the company on all its major arguments. He wrote that AstraZeneca had not proved that Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program jeopardizes its constitutional property rights, and that the company didn’t have standing to challenge the guidance Medicare issued to implement the program.

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The case is the first of a slew of cases filed by the pharmaceutical industry and its allies to be decided at the district court level. The Delaware ruling is a blow, as several of the other cases made similar arguments about how the program violates drugmakers’ constitutional property rights.

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