Pfizer (PFE) lost a round in the larger fight over pharmaceutical pricing when a federal judge ruled that Texas lawmakers should be able to obtain state Medicaid rebate data about its medicines.
The drug maker last year filed a lawsuit against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for releasing the data to a pair of state lawmakers, who sought the information in order to assess drug costs for the state Medicaid program. But Pfizer argued that releasing the data would violate federal and state laws that protect its confidential information.
In its lawsuit, Pfizer maintained that its ability to compete with rivals would be hurt if “valuable and commercially sensitive trade secrets” were released. The company also insisted that, if other large purchasers were to know about — and then demand — the same prices offered to the Texas Medicaid program, the company would not be able to tailor pricing and rebates for each unique Medicaid market.
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