PhRMA goes to court over Florida rebates

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has gone tocourt over a statute that took effect in the US state of Florida on July 1, and which requires drugmakers to provide rebates to the state Medicaid program in order to get their products onto the Medicaid formulary (Marketletters passim).

The PhRMA has asked the federal court in Tallahassee to invalidate and enjoin enforcement of the statute, which it says violates both federal Medicaid law and the US Constitution's provision that federal legislation has supremacy over state law.

The formulary set up under the statute includes fewer than half of all the brand-name prescription drugs covered by the federal Medicaid program. To prescribe any of the remaining 1,000-plus brand-name drugs which are not on the Florida formulary, doctors in the state must first obtain prior authorization from state officials. The PhRMA says that a common result of prior authorization is to induce doctors to switch patients to drugs that are not their preferred choice.