U.S. judge blocks call for prices in TV ads

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday blocked a major White House initiative on prescription drug costs, saying the Trump administration lacked the legal authority to require drug makers to disclose their prices in TV ads.

The narrow ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., struck down a requirement that was set to go into effect within hours, on Tuesday. Drugmakers had argued that requiring them to disclose list prices amounted to coercion that would violate their free speech rights under the Constitution.

But in his 27page ruling Mehta avoided debating the First Amendment, saying simply that the Trump administration had failed to show it had legal authority under the statutes that govern federal programs such as Medicare to require price disclosure.

He wrote that neither the law’s “text, structure, nor context evince an intent by Congress to empower (administrative agencies) to issue a rule that compels drug manufacturers to disclose list prices.”

Mehta also said he wasn’t questioning the motives of the Health and Human Services Department, which issued the price disclosure rule. He suggested the administration could even be right on the merits.

“That policy very well could be an effective tool in halting the rising cost of prescription drugs,” the judge wrote. “But no matter how vexing the problem of spiraling drug costs may be, HHS cannot do more than what Congress has authorized. The responsibility rests with Congress to act in the first instance.”