WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, raising the stakes in the increasingly populist battle over the high cost of prescription drugs, said Friday that it would consider the pharmaceutical industry's challenge of state efforts to force drug prices lower.
The court's decision prevents Maine from implementing a program adopted two years ago to finance prescription drug coverage for 325,000 uninsured residents with discounts won in strong-arm negotiations with drug manufacturers.
The pharmaceutical industry immediately went to federal court to have the Maine Rx law overturned, arguing that it violates federal Medicaid law as well as constitutional rules on interstate commerce.
The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, succeeded in blocking the program, but the state had won the latest round of the legal battle, in the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. Maine also garnered the endorsement of the Bush administration, which filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to let the program go forward.
Escalating drug prices have strained the budgets of private consumers and state governments in recent years, and lawmakers of both political parties have sought to respond to growing demands for political action. Yet the high court's intervention in the Maine case, coming hours after the Republican-controlled House passed an industry-supported Medicare drug benefit that Democrats criticized for failing to address the cost issue, highlighted the significant legal and political barriers that face all cost-containment efforts.
The court's action also is likely to reverberate in a campaign for the U.S. Senate that pits the Democratic author of the Maine Rx program against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Both candidates expressed their disappointment over Friday's court action, but former state Sen. Chellie Pingree said it underscored Congress' responsibility to take on the pharmaceutical industry and makes her ''even more determined to get to Washington.''
PhRMA officials praised the court's action, calling it ''great news for Medicaid patients.''
The court's ruling, expected next year, could affect state budgets and low-income citizens across the country. Legislators in roughly half the states have been waiting to see whether Maine's law would survive the industry's legal challenge before enacting similar programs.
