In a setback to states working to rein in prescription drug costs, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Maryland's bid to revive a law aimed at preventing price gouging by drugmakers, Reuters reports.
On Feb. 19, the Supreme Court declined to take on the state's appeal of a 2018 appeals court decision that struck down the law.
Maryland enacted the anti-price gouging law in 2017 after several drugmakers significantly hiked the price of their medication. The measure prohibited "unconscionable" price increases for essential drugs no longer under patent protection.
The Association for Accessible Medicines, the trade group representing generic drugmakers, filed the legal challenge against the law, charging that it targeted the price a manufacturer or wholesaler charges in the initial sale of the drug, not just the price a patient pays. A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with their argument.
Maryland then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which decided not to hear the case.
Read the full report here.