Federal judge strikes down DC law intended to keep drug costs down

A federal judge ruled yesterday that a District law designed to reduce the price of prescription drugs is unconstitutional and blocked its implementation.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said the law, passed this fall, violates constitutional protections of interstate commerce and goes against the will of Congress.

The law makes it illegal for pharmaceutical companies to sell prescription drugs at an “excessive price” in the District. It defines excessive as being 30 percent higher than the price in such “high-income countries” as Germany, Canada, Australia and Britain.

Pharmaceutical industry groups, which had filed the legal challenge in October, applauded the decision. D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), the law’s author, said the city should appeal.

Read the rest of this story in the Washington Post.