Judge Dismisses AstraZeneca’s Challenge to Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

The judge emphasizes that AstraZeneca’s participation in the Medicare program is ‘a voluntary undertaking.’

An office of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is seen in Cheshire, England, in a file photograph. Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge in Delaware on Friday denied AstraZeneca’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Medicare’s drug price negotiation program, citing the company’s lack of legal standing.

In his March 1 ruling, U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly stated that the pharmaceutical company lacked standing to challenge the guidance issued by Medicare to implement the program.