October 19th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
Maryland is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold its first-in-the-nation law against pharmaceutical price gouging.
Attorney General Brian Frosh petitioned the high court on Friday to uphold the law.
A panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in April that the law is unconstitutional, because it forces manufacturers and wholesalers to act in accordance with Maryland law outside of Maryland, burdening interstate commerce. In July, the federal appeals court turned down Frosh's petition that the full appeals court hear the case.
The Maryland law enabled the attorney general to sue makers of off-patent or generic drugs for price increases that state officials consider "unconscionable." That was defined as an excessive increase, unjustified by the cost of producing or distributing the drug.
