Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Bristol Myers Squibb Company v. Robert F. Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 24-1820 · judgment September 4, 2025
Before the decision, about 2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Third Circuit decision below, and a business petitioner.
Questions presented
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress created the “Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.” Under the Program, manufacturers of the Nation’s leading prescription medications must expressly “agree” to sell selected products to Medicare beneficiaries at a below-market “maximum fair price.” If a manufacturer declines to do so, it incurs an “enterprise-crippling” daily tax on all sales of the product that tops out at 1,900% of its total daily revenue. App.49a (Hardiman, J., dissenting). For petitioner Bristol Myers Squibb Company and its selected product Eliquis, that would mean up to $1 billion in daily liability. Other than “agreeing” to sell its product at a government-dictated below-market price, the only way for a manufacturer to avoid this massive penalty is to withdraw every one of its medicines from both Medicare and Medicaid—about half the American market. A divided Third Circuit upheld the Program, reasoning that participation in it is wholly “voluntary” because a manufacturer can “choose” to avoid the IRA’s crippling taxes by withdrawing entirely from Medicare and Medicaid—thereby destroying its domestic business. The questions presented are:
-
Whether the Program violates the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause by forcing manufacturers to sell medicines to Medicare beneficiaries at below-market prices.
-
Whether the Program violates the First Amendment by compelling manufacturers to expressly “agree” with the government’s narrative that its dictated amount is the medicine’s “maximum fair price,” set through a voluntary negotiation.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Proceedings
- May 18 2026Petition DENIED.
- Apr 22 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/14/2026.
- Apr 08 2026Reply of petitioner Bristol Myers Squibb Company filed.
- Mar 25 2026Brief of respondents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
- Feb 17 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 25, 2026.
- Feb 13 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 23, 2026 to March 25, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Washington Legal Foundation filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Manhattan Institute filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of The National Association of Manufacturers filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Daniel E. Troy filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Biotechnology Innovation Organization filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amici curiae of Advancing American Freedom, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Jan 22 2026Brief amicus curiae of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. filed. VIDED.
- Jan 21 2026Brief amicus curiae of Atlantic Legal Foundation filed. VIDED.
- Jan 20 2026Brief amicus curiae of Pioneer New England Legal Foundation filed.
- Jan 16 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 23, 2026.
- Jan 16 2026Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Research Institute filed. VIDED.
- Jan 15 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 22, 2026 to February 23, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Dec 19 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 22, 2026)
- Nov 06 2025Application (25A519) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until December 19, 2025.
- Nov 03 2025Application (25A519) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 3, 2025 to December 19, 2025, submitted to Justice Alito.