13 April 2018 - A federal appeals court has struck down a Maryland drug-price-gouging law, a first-of-its-kind measure aimed at lowering the price of off-patent or generic drugs.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in a 2-to-1 ruling that the 2017 law is unconstitutional because it violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Although we sympathise with the consumers affected by the prescription drug manufacturers’ conduct and with Maryland’s efforts to curtail prescription drug price gouging, we are constrained to apply the dormant commerce clause to the Act,” Judge Stephanie D. Thacker wrote for the majority opinion. “We hold that the Act is unconstitutional under the dormant commerce clause because it directly regulates transactions that take place outside Maryland.”

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