The pharmaceutical industry has decided that the Trump administration's latest Medicare pilot program is a bridge too far, and is taking it to court. PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) filed a lawsuit alleging that the "most favored nation" (MFN) pilot for Medicare, known as GLOBE, is unlawful and exceeds the statutory authority of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In other words: how dare the government try to pay what other wealthy countries pay for drugs.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in the District of Columbia, asks the court to declare GLOBE unlawful and to vacate the rule in its entirety. PhRMA argues that CMS is using a limited demonstration model authority to impose "nationwide price setting policies that Congress never authorized." Because nothing says "limited demonstration" like a nationwide price-setting scheme.

"The policy doesn't make medicines more affordable for most beneficiaries, while putting future medical innovation and patient access at risk," said Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of PhRMA, in a statement. "We share the administration's goal of ensuring Americans can access and afford their medicines, but CMS cannot rewrite the law and bypass Congress to impose foreign price controls." The lawsuit adds that if allowed to move forward, GLOBE will work "immediate and profound harms on American patients and American industry." Because nothing harms patients quite like paying less for drugs.

Under the rule, drug manufacturers would be required to pay "rebates" to CMS that effectively limit Medicare drug prices to MFN benchmarks based on prices in 19 countries. The pilot itself isn't expected to have much of an impact because the administration exempted all but three or four companies in return for their agreement to charge most favored nation prices in Medicaid. So basically, it's a pilot program that barely applies to anyone, but PhRMA is still suing like it's the end of the pharmaceutical world as we know it.

Interestingly, PhRMA isn't calling the Medicaid deals "price controls." The industry group says voluntary agreements are fine, but mandatory participation is not. So voluntary price controls: good. Mandatory price controls: tyranny. Got it.

PhRMA argues GLOBE is not a test of new or innovative ways to deliver care or pay providers. Instead, they claim CMS is imposing a new pricing requirement that "predetermines the outcome through mandatory manufacturer rebates." Because apparently, the only acceptable outcome is the one where drugmakers set the prices.

In the final rule, CMS nodded to the possibility of lawsuits, writing: "Disagreement with payment policy does not establish a constitutional violation." A subtle reminder that not liking a policy doesn't make it illegal.

In other healthcare news this week:

A federal watchdog report found that the Trump administration violated federal law by withholding tens of millions of dollars in research grant funding Congress had appropriated for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday found the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) by withholding more than $78 million.

President Trump dismissed a question Wednesday about his administration sending money to Americans ahead of the midterms, choosing instead to tout his tariffs. "What we're doing is we have tremendous growth. We have the greatest growth of any country, maybe ever in history," the president said in the Oval Office, when the Independent's Andrew Feinberg asked whether he was sending money to Americans "in hopes they vote for" him.

President Trump said Wednesday he does not think the suspected Russian plague cases are a bioweapon. "We don't think so," the president said in the Oval Office. He said Russia has said it has it "under control." "They're sharing it a little bit with our people," Trump said. "I expect them to share it a lot with our people." A source familiar told The Hill's...

The U.S. has sent a formal diplomatic complaint to the Russian government demanding more information regarding the death of a woman working at an antiplague research facility in Siberia and following reports of quarantine procedures, a source familiar told NewsNation, The Hill's sister network. The Trump administration's request came in the form of a demarche, an official diplomatic communication representing the U.S.

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