{"id":831055,"date":"2026-07-28T08:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/831055\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:57:10","slug":"colorado-board-permits-state-to-appeal-injunction-against-arthritis-drug-price-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/831055\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado board permits state to appeal injunction against arthritis drug price cap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Colorado board voted Friday to allow the Attorney General\u2019s Office to fight an injunction against a price cap on a drug that treats arthritis.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A U.S. district court judge had granted the company Amgen a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking Colorado from imposing a price cap on Enbrel, an injectable commonly used to treat arthritis. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enbrel was the first, and so far only, drug for which the Prescription Drug Affordability Board has implemented a price cap since the body was established through legislation in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last fall, Colorado<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradopolitics.com\/2025\/10\/06\/colorado-prescription-board-votes-to-limit-cost-of-rheumatoid-arthritis-drug\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> placed <\/a>a $31,000 annual cap on Enbrel, the first state in the country to do so. The drug\u2019s price has increased by over 1,500% since it was introduced in 1998, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.colorado.gov\/sites\/doi\/files\/documents\/PUBLIC_Enbrel%20Affordability%20Review%20Final%20Report.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado Division of Insurance<\/a>. The price cap was set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly after the drug board voted to impose a cap on Enbrel, Amgen filed a lawsuit, arguing the cap conflicts with federal patent authority and violates the <a href=\"https:\/\/constitution.congress.gov\/browse\/essay\/artI-S8-C3-7-1\/ALDE_00013307\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dormant Commerce Clause <\/a>of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn flouting the Constitution and federal law, the Board\u2019s actions jeopardize access to Enbrel and other innovative drugs, endangering the lives and well-being of countless patients with serious medical conditions,\u201d the company wrote in its complaint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Daniel Domenico sided with Amgen, granting a preliminary injunction on the cap. Domenico acknowledged that medication has become unaffordable for many Americans, but that, in his view, \u201cthose policy issues are not relevant to the legal discussion here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs a matter of basic economic logic, Amgen is likely to be significantly harmed by a cap on the price of its product, even if the cap applies unevenly and down the chain,\u201d Domenico wrote in his opinion. \u201cThat is sufficient to satisfy its burden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On July 24, Prescription Drug Affordability Board members voted to permit the attorney general to appeal the injunction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPhysicians commend the Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Board for appealing the injunction keeping them from lowering the cost of Enbrel for patients,\u201d Dr. Kristen Nordenholz, an emergency medicine doctor in Aurora, said in a news release. \u201cWe\u2019ve been supporting the PDAB from the beginning because the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs have done incalculable damage to our patients\u2019 health. We must keep fighting to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable and ensure our patients can access the drugs they need to live and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Colorado board voted Friday to allow the Attorney General\u2019s Office to fight an injunction against a price&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[20178,49,48,84,1337,377,44],"class_list":["post-831055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-arthritis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-local","tag-medication","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}