Drug prices & Part D
Biotech Industry Group Files Second Lawsuit to Block Medicare's GLOBE Drug Pricing Model
BIO and two California biotech groups sued CMS on November 6, arguing the program exceeds legal authority. A first challenge from PhRMA filed in October remains pending.
By the Goodsurance editorial teamNovember 12, 2026
A second coalition of industry groups has filed suit in federal court to block Medicare's GLOBE drug pricing model. On November 6, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Biocom California, and California Life Sciences filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California seeking to halt the program before it takes effect.
The GLOBE model, finalized by CMS in October 2026, is set to begin January 1, 2027. Under the model, drugmakers would pay rebates when their Medicare Part B drug prices exceed benchmarks set by prices paid in 19 economically comparable countries, including Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. CMS has said the model would initially apply to randomly selected geographic areas covering roughly 25 percent of original Medicare beneficiaries.
A second industry group, this one from biotech, has sued to block Medicare's GLOBE international drug pricing model, opening a new legal front in California.
The plaintiffs argue that GLOBE exceeds CMS's legal authority under the law governing Medicare innovation models and does not function as a genuine demonstration project as the law requires. They characterize the model as a mandatory price-control mechanism structured as a pilot program.
The suit follows an earlier challenge filed in October by PhRMA, the brand pharmaceutical industry's leading trade association. As of this publication, neither case has produced a court order stopping the model, and both are in early stages.
For beneficiaries in original Medicare, the model is designed to bring rebates back to the program when Part B drug prices top the international reference level. Whether that happens depends, in part, on how federal courts assess these legal challenges.
In plain words
Medicare has a new program called GLOBE. It is set to start January 1, 2027. The program would make drug companies pay money back to Medicare when they charge more for certain medicines than other countries pay. At first, only about one in four original Medicare beneficiaries would be part of it, chosen by where they live.
A group called BIO, which speaks for biotech companies, is now suing to stop GLOBE. Two California groups joined the lawsuit. They say Medicare does not have the legal right to run this kind of program the way it is set up.
This is the second lawsuit against GLOBE. Another drug industry group called PhRMA filed the first lawsuit in October 2026.
No court has told Medicare to stop GLOBE yet. If the program runs as planned, some people on original Medicare could pay less out of pocket for certain medicines their doctor gives them in the office.
Understand the basics first
Source: STAT News
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