Gener­ic in­dus­try group sues Min­neso­ta, call­ing price caps 'un­con­sti­tu­tion­al'

Gener­ic in­dus­try group As­so­ci­a­tion for Ac­ces­si­ble Med­i­cines has sued Min­neso­ta At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Kei­th El­li­son in fed­er­al court, claim­ing cer­tain drug pric­ing pro­vi­sions in a new law are un­con­sti­tu­tion­al.

The 31-page suit, filed Wednes­day in fed­er­al Dis­trict Court for the Dis­trict of Min­neso­ta, fo­cus­es on SF 2744, a 204-page bill signed in­to law in May and that went in­to ef­fect on Ju­ly 1.

Part of that law pro­hibits what it calls “ex­ces­sive” price in­creas­es on “any gener­ic or off-patent drug sold, dis­pensed, or de­liv­ered to any con­sumer in the state.” Per the bill, a price in­crease counts as ex­ces­sive if — af­ter ad­just­ed for in­fla­tion — its whole­sale ac­qui­si­tion price in­creas­es by 15% over the pre­vi­ous year, 40% over the past three years, or ex­ceeds $30 for a 30-day sup­ply.

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