AAM Sues Maryland to Block Generic Drug Price Gouging Law

The Association for Accessible Medicines filed a lawsuit against the attorney general of Maryland, hoping to block the state’s recently passed law ostensibly banning generic drug price gouging.

Formerly known as GPhA, the AAM said the effects of the new law will extend past Maryland’s borders, running afoul of the Constitution’s interstate commerce clause, and that manufacturers and distributors do not make pricing decisions on a state-by-state basis.

In addition, the law’s definition of price gouging was left too vague — “an unconscionable increase in the price of a prescription drug” — which could allow the state to regulate more than it is legally able, AAM said in its complaint, filed in Maryland federal court July 6.