23 August 2019 - Five pharmaceutical companies said on Friday they have filed a complaint in a Canadian court challenging the constitutionality of new Canadian regulations meant to lower patented drug prices, setting up a fight with the federal government ahead of an Oct. 21 election.
The complaint was filed in Quebec’s Superior Court by the Canadian arms of U.S.-based Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Inc, Germany’s Bayer AG and Boehringer Ingelheim, and France’s Servier Inc.
The filing ratchets up a confrontation between the pharmaceutical industry and the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which has vowed to make affordability a key plank of its election campaign.