The decision is an early win for the Biden administration as it grapples with a flurry of other legal challenges that drugmakers have filed against the Medicare drug price negotiations. The judge's ruling won't end the legal battle over the policy, which could end up at the Supreme Court. A slate of major companies with drugs selected for negotiations, including J&J, Merck , and Bristol Myers Squibb , have filed separate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the price talks. The suit also argued that the price talks violate the Eighth Amendment because they include a "crippling" excise tax aimed at forcing drugmakers to accept the government-dictated price of medicines. The groups also argued that the price talks violate due process by denying pharmaceutical companies and the public input on how Medicare negotiations will be implemented.

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Persons: Biden, drugmakers, Judge David Ezra of, Ezra, NICA's, Nicole Longo, PhRMA, Eli Lilly, Johnson, NICA Organizations: U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Supreme, Medicare, Western, Western District of Texas, Pharmaceutical Research, Manufacturers of America, Global Colon Cancer Association, National, Center Association, CNBC, Pfizer, Johnson, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Chamber of Commerce, Department of Health, Department of Justice Locations: Washington ,, Western District, PhRMA, Ohio