Amgen Inc., Merck & Co., Eli Lilly Co. and the Association of National Advertisers filed a lawsuit Friday to stop a new federal regulation requiring the disclosure of the list price for prescription drugs in television advertisements, according to a Reuters report. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. against the Trump administration, which introduced a new regulation through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose a drug’s list price in advertisements. The regulation, set to take effect in July, is part of the government’s efforts to bring down drug costs for consumers. Companies such as Thousand Oaks-based Amgen oppose the regulation because it excludes rebates and discounts that drug makers may offer. “Not only does the rule raise serious freedom of speech concerns, it mandates an approach that fails to account for differences among insurance, treatments and patients themselves, by requiring disclosure of list price,” Amgen said in a statement. “Most importantly, it does not answer the fundamental question patients are asking: ‘What will I have to pay for my medicine?’” The lawsuit asks the court to vacate the rule. Shares of Amgen (AMGN) closed Monday up $2.31, or 1.31 percent, to $178.39 on the Nasdaq.
