The Enormous Power of a Well-Funded Drug Lobby
When you get sick, have an injury or a medical condition requiring a prescription drug, your doctor decides which medication would be most effective for your treatment, right? If you believe that, read on, because you might be surprised.
The pharmaceutical industry is the largest lobby in Washington. The Center for Public Integrity's analysis of federal lobbying data found that pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million on lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill in 2007.
That's 32 percent more than they dropped in Washington in 2006, but their efforts paid off big with the extension of controversial laws, by a successful block of congressional efforts to restrict media and marketing for prescription drugs, and a ban on the import of cheaper drugs from other countries.
Over the past 10 years, pharmaceutical companies have spent more than $1 billion on lobbyists in Washington to represent their interests. Combined with medical device and other health product manufacturers, a record $189 million was spent on direct lobbying in 2007.
In 1998, the first complete records and lobbying totals were made available. In 1998, the drug companies and health product and medical device manufacturers spent a scant $67 million courting our congressmen.
The biggest spenders, accounting for more than 9 percent of the millions of dollars spent on direct lobbying, was spent by 40 companies and three trade groups. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Advanced Medical Technology Association brought the big guns to Washington and expect to reap great financial rewards for their lobbying efforts.
The pharmaceutical industry likely stepped up the lobbying budget for 2007 due in part to the November 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress as critics of the drug companies took the reins. After the Democrats took control of Congress, a series of hearings on drug safety, pharmaceutical pricing and the availability of generic medications were conducted.
Representative Henry Waxman of California and other Democrats attempted to give the Food and Drug Administration more power and revisited Medicare prescription drug legislation that was a product of the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying power. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 resulted in the largest overhaul of Medicare in history and the addition of prescription drug coverage through the program.
Lobbying is a powerful tool for the pharmaceutical industry, and when Congress turned up the heat, there was no backing down. The industry responded to the shift in Washington by hiring more Democratic lobbyists. Money talks and these lobbyists were able to find politicians with big ears who support free market policies.
The pharmaceutical industry also dramatically increased donations to the Democrats following the November 2006 elections and these large contributions continue.
The pharmaceutical and health products industry generously donated much of its $14.4 million in contributions to members of three committees that regulate the industry. More than $6.8 million in donations went to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Ways and Means, and Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Labor.
Leading the pack in drug company lobbying during 2007 was the trade group PhRMA, biomedical firm Amgen Inc., Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, Roche Holding AG, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson Inc.
Pharmaceutical lobbyists pursued a wide array of issues in Washington in 2007. Their big wins came with the blocking of inexpensive drug imports from other countries, protecting pharmaceutical patents in the United States and abroad, and ensuring greater market access for pharmaceutical companies in international free trade agreements and faster drug approval by the FDA through the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.
So, the next time you have a prescription filled at the pharmacy, think about exactly how that drug was approved, marketed and sold to you and your doctor and how big drug companies have refused to allow you to have your medication any other way - most especially not at a lower price. It is quite a bitter pill to swallow.
