Drugmakers Spend Record Amounts on Congressional Lobbying

Drugmakers spent $155 million lobbying Congress between January 2005 and June 2006, trying to influence legislation on Medicare, drug importation and patent protection, according to a study by The Center for Public Integrity.

In the time frame covered by the study, PhRMA spent more than $18 million on lobbying, more than any single drug company. It was the largest amount the group had spent in a given year since the center began analyzing the data in 1998. In the past nine years, PhRMA has spent a total of $104 million on lobbying, the center reported.

PhRMA and the Biotechnology Industry Organization, along with the 20 largest drug companies, funded 80 percent of the industry's federal lobbying over the past nine years, the center said. The biggest company spender on lobbying was Pfizer, reaching $12 million in 2005 and the first half of 2006. The company's total since 1998 is $62 million, compared with $48 million for Merck and $40 million each for Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline, the center said.

The amount the drug industry spends on lobbying is "staggering" and exposes the major influence and power the industry has on legislation, Consumers Union senior policy analyst Bill Vaughan said. The "manipulation" of drug industry lobbyists is the reason Americans pay more than the citizens in all other countries for important medicines, Vaughan added.

Legislation the industry's approximately 1,100 lobbyists were involved with over the past year covered Medicare Part D direct negotiation, drug importation and increased authority for the FDA, according to the report. ( http://www.fdanews.com/did/6_67/ )