Big Pharma abandons lawsuit over Nevada's insulin pricing transparency law after state approves

[TexasTowelie]

Big Pharma abandons lawsuit over Nevada's insulin pricing transparency law after state approves trade secret protection regulations


Two national drug lobbying organizations dropped a lawsuit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of Nevada’s first-in-the-nation insulin pricing transparency law a little less than a month after the state approved regulations allowing drug companies to protect certain information they turn over to the state from public disclosure.

Attorneys representing two associations and the state agreed in a joint court filing that the newly adopted regulations resolve drug companies’ concerns that the new law would require manufacturers of diabetes drugs to disclose trade secret-protected information in conflict with federal law and in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The decision to abandon a legal fight comes nine months after the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) challenged the law in U.S. District Court.

PhRMA’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel James Stansel said in a statement Thursday that the regulations addressed the “most significant legal flaw” in the legislation and that it had agreed to drop its lawsuit “given the changes to the interpretation and implementation of the law.” However, he noted that the association was doing so while “specifically reserving rights to reinstitute the litigation in the future.”

In the joint filing, both sides agreed that drug companies could take action against the state in federal court for disclosing any information that is considered a trade secret under federal trade secret law.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/big-pharma-abandons-lawsuit-over-nevadas-insulin-pricing-transparency-law-after-state-approves-trade-secret-protection-regulations