A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday cleared the way for Oregon to enforce its Prescription Drug Price Transparency Act of 2018, which requires pharmaceutical companies to disclose specific information about when their drug prices change and why, Hillel Aron reported for Courthouse News Service.
“The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group representing drug companies like Eli Lilly, Gilead, and Bayer, sued Oregon in 2019, arguing that the reporting requirements in the drug price transparency bill, HB 4005, amounted to compelled speech and thus violated the First Amendment,” Aron explained. “In 2024, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman, a George W. Bush appointee, sided with the drugmakers and granted their motion for summary judgment.”
Oregon appealed the ruling, Aron wrote. “The pharmaceutical drug market is characterized by significant informational asymmetries,” U.S. Circuit Judge Lucy Koh wrote in the 114-page ruling. “The state has a substantial interest in reducing those asymmetries, facilitating informed commercial transactions, and improving the efficiency of the pharmaceutical market.”
“Oregon’s victory was backed by more than 21 state attorneys general, who filed a brief arguing that the law provides valuable information that could aid other states in crafting policies to rein in pharmaceutical spending,” CPI reported. “Circuit Judge Carlos Bea issued a partial dissent, supporting PhRMA’s First Amendment argument.”
