This small biotech is suing the Trump administration to get its drug covered

WASHINGTON — A small Cambridge-based biotech, Akebia Therapeutics, is in the midst of a massive, rapidly escalating feud with the federal government.

The fight centers around a recent decision by the government to deny Medicare coverage for the company’s only drug on the market, an anemia treatment for some kidney disease patients called Auryxia. Akebia is pushing back through any means necessary — including a newly filed lawsuit against the Trump administration, in which it argues that the coverage denial violates the law.

Akebia CEO John Butler went further in an interview with STAT, saying the decision ran afoul of President Trump’s pledge to transform kidney care for patients at a July executive order signing ceremony.

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