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AbbVie has retained Trump-connected Winston-Salem-based Checkmate Government Relations for healthcare matters and issues related to the life sciences sector.
The North Chicago company on Feb. 11 sued the Department of Health and Human Services, challenging the move by its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services unit to slap price controls on its Botox product.
It claims that Botox is among the medications that Congress excluded from the Medicare drug price negotiation program created under the Inflation Reduction Act.
AbbVie also says the price cap violates its First Amendment rights by forcing it to claim that the price charged for Botox is “fair.”
The suit names HHS chief Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and CMS administrator Mehmet Oz as defendants.
Botox generates 10 percent of AbbVie’s $61.2B annual revenues.
Checkmate managing partner Ches McDowell, who headed the North Carolina branch of Sportsmen for Trump, heads the AbbVie team.
He joined by healthcare practice director Caitlin Koury and PA director Chris LaCivita, Jr.
Knob Petroleum, which is based in Panama City, has retained Ballard Partners to explore opportunities in Venezuela.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has signed to represent Eastern Air Holdings, which operates deportation flights for Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
Ballard Partners has lined up Australia’s Energy Transition Minerals company, an explorer and developer of rare earths minerals opportunities. It touts its Greenland property as having the potential to become the biggest rare earths producer in the western world.
Netflix has retained Bloom Strategic Counsel for regulatory matters regarding its proposed $83B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, hires Democratic-connected Avenue Solutions for DC representation.
