pharmaceutical lobby

The largest pharmaceutical companies and their two trade groups, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Biotechnology Innovation Organization, lobbied on at least 1,600 pieces of legislation between 1998 and 2004. According to the non-partisan OpenSecrets, pharmaceutical companies spent $900 million on lobbying between 1998 and 2005, more than any other industry. During the same period, they donated $89.9 million to federal candidates and political parties, giving approximately three times as much to Republicans as to Democrats.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=R. Jeffrey |last2=Birnbaum |first2=Jeffrey H. |title=Drug Bill Demonstrates Lobby's Pull |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011102081.html |access-date=19 February 2023 |work=The Washington Post |date=12 January 2007 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102015907/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011102081.html |url-status=live }} According to the Center for Public Integrity, from January 2005 through June 2006 alone, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $182 million on federal lobbying in the United States.{{Cite web|url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/rx/report.aspx?aid=823|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703022803/http://www.publicintegrity.org/rx/report.aspx?aid=823|url-status=dead|title=Pushing Prescriptions – The Center for Public Integrity|archivedate=Jul 3, 2007|accessdate=Aug 13, 2022}} In 2005, the industry had 1,274 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |last1=Drinkard |first1=Jim |title=Drugmakers go furthest to sway Congress |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2005-04-25-drug-lobby-cover_x.htm |access-date=6 January 2021 |publisher=USA Today |date=16 April 2005 |archive-date=28 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628125009/http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2005-04-25-drug-lobby-cover_x.htm |url-status=live }}

A 2020 study found that, from 1999 to 2018, the pharmaceutical industry and health product industry together spent $4.7 billion lobbying the United States federal government, an average of $233 million per year.{{cite journal |last1=Wouters |first1=Olivier J. |title=Lobbying Expenditures and Campaign Contributions by the Pharmaceutical and Health Product Industry in the United States, 1999-2018 |journal=JAMA Internal Medicine |date=2020 |volume=180 |issue=5 |pages=688–697 |doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.0146|pmid=32125357 |pmc=7054854 |doi-access=free }}

{{main|Prescription drug prices in the United States}}

Critics of the pharmaceutical lobby argue that the drug industry's influence allows it to promote legislation friendly to drug manufacturers at the expense of patients.{{cite news | title=Turn the Volume Down on Drug Ads | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/opinion/turn-the-volume-down-on-drug-ads.html | work=The New York Times | date=November 27, 2015 | url-access=limited | access-date=March 3, 2017 | archive-date=June 26, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626193900/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/opinion/turn-the-volume-down-on-drug-ads.html | url-status=live }}{{fv|date=July 2017}} The lobby's influence in securing the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 was considered a major and controversial{{according to|date=January 2021}} victory for the industry, as it prevents the government from directly negotiating prices with drug companies who provide those prescription drugs covered by Medicare. Price negotiations are instead conducted between manufacturers and the pharmacy benefit managers providing Medicare Part D benefits under contract with Medicare. In 2010 the Congressional Budget Office estimated the average discount negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers at 14%.{{cite web |last1=Congressional Budget Office |title=Effects of Using Generic Drugs on Medicare's Prescription Drug Spending |date=September 2010 |url=https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/118xx/doc11838/09-15-prescriptiondrugs.pdf |website=Congressional Budget Office |access-date=6 January 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112003720/https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/118xx/doc11838/09-15-prescriptiondrugs.pdf |url-status=live }}

The high price of U.S. prescription drugs has been a source of ongoing controversy. Pharmaceutical companies state that the high costs are the result of pricey research and development programs. Critics point to the development of drugs having only small incremental benefit.{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/10/25/041025crat_atlarge|title=High Prices|author=Malcolm Gladwell|date=25 October 2004|work=The New Yorker|accessdate=29 April 2016|archive-date=5 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505231249/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/10/25/041025crat_atlarge|url-status=live}} According to Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, "The United States is the only advanced country that permits the pharmaceutical industry to charge exactly what the market will bear."{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/other/interviews/angell.html|title=Interviews - Marcia Angell - The Other Drug War - FRONTLINE - PBS|accessdate=29 April 2016|archive-date=22 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522110836/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/other/interviews/angell.html|url-status=live}} In contrast, the RAND Corporation and authors from the National Bureau of Economic Research have argued that price controls stifle innovation and are economically counterproductive in the long term.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1380.html|title=U.S. Pharmaceutical Policy in a Global Marketplace|first1=Darius N.|last1=Lakdawalla|first2=Dana P.|last2=Goldman|first3=Pierre-Carl|last3=Michaud|first4=Neeraj|last4=Sood|first5=Robert J.|last5=Lempert|first6=Ze|last6=Cong|first7=Han|last7=de Vries|first8=Italo A.|last8=Gutierrez|date=Jan 9, 2009|accessdate=Aug 13, 2022|via=www.rand.org|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813162029/https://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1380.html|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |first1=Rexford E. |last1=Santerre |first2=John A. |last2=Vernon |title=Assessing Consumer Gains from a Drug Price Control Policy in the United States |journal=Southern Economic Journal |year=2006 |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=233–245 |doi=10.2307/20111885 |jstor=20111885 }}

In 2021, during the height of COVID-19, vaccine makers increased lobbying and public-relations efforts to oppose a proposal that would temporarily waive their patents in Germany, Japan and other countries. This proposal would allow COVID-19 vaccine patents to be licensed to international vaccine makers or otherwise sold entirely. The Biden presidential administration in the U.S. supported the waiver proposal; however, pharmaceutical industry trade groups supported Germany, Japan, and other countries that expressed opposition. Pharmaceutical industry representatives have been lobbying members of Congress to pressure the Biden administration to reverse its support of the waiver, arguing that the patents protect its innovations. However, proponents of the proposal see the patent as giving companies a monopoly over sales of vaccines during a world crisis.{{cite web |last1=The Wall Street Journal |title=Covid-19 Vaccine Makers Press Countries to Oppose Patent Waiver |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-makers-press-countries-to-oppose-patent-waiver-11622021402 |access-date=13 December 2022 |website=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |archive-date=13 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213071238/https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-makers-press-countries-to-oppose-patent-waiver-11622021402 |url-status=live }}

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• Bad Pharma (2012) by Ben Goldacre
• Big Pharma (2006) by Jacky Law
• Big Pharma conspiracy theory
• Ethics in pharmaceutical sales
• List of pharmaceutical companies
• Lists about the pharmaceutical industry
• Pharmaceutical marketing

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{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080428220735/http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=H04 Pharmaceutical lobbying totals at Opensecrets]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070403042522/http://www.corporationsandhealth.org/info_pharm.php Corporations and Health Watch]
• [http://www.phrma.org/ PhRMA's home page]
• [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/other/ PBS series on the pharmaceutical industry]
• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=739609197405993027&ei=aW6XScm9M4bi2gLR9fSyAw Big Bucks, Big Pharma], Amy Goodman, 68 minutes

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{{Public health}}

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{{Pharmaceutical industry by country}}

{{Pharmaceutical companies of the United States}}

{{Pharmaceutical industry in the United States}}

{{Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom}}

Category:Conflict of interest

Category:Lobbying in the United States

Category:Lobbying organizations

Lobby