The pharmaceutical lobby refers to the representatives of

pharmaceutical drug A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

and

biomedicine Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

companies who engage in

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

in favour of

pharmaceutical companies The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

and their products.

Political influence in the United States

The largest pharmaceutical companies and their two trade groups,

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is a trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. Founded in 195 ...

(PhRMA) and

Biotechnology Innovation Organization The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) is the largest advocacy association in the world representing the biotechnology industry. It was founded in 1993 as the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and changed its name to the Biotechnology ...

, lobbied on at least 1,600 pieces of legislation between 1998 and 2004. According to the non-partisan

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

, 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. According to the

Center for Public Integrity The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to c ...

, from January 2005 through June 2006 alone, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $182 million on federal lobbying in the United States. In 2005, the industry had 1,274 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. 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.

Controversy in the U.S.

Prescription drug costs in the U.S.

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. The lobby's influence in securing the passage of the

Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, also called the Medicare Modernization Act or MMA, is a federal law of the United States, enacted in 2003. It produced the largest overhaul of Medicare in the public health progr ...

of 2003 was considered a major and controversial 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 The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. Inspired by California's Legislative Analyst's Office that manages ...

estimated the average discount negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers at 14%. 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. According to

Marcia Angell Marcia Angell (; born April 20, 1939) is an American physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the ''New England Journal of Medicine''. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social M ...

, former editor-in-chief of the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. Hist ...

'', "The United States is the only advanced country that permits the pharmaceutical industry to charge exactly what the market will bear." In contrast, the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

and authors from the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

have argued that price controls stifle innovation and are economically counterproductive in the long term.

International operations

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.

References

External links

Pharmaceutical lobbying totals at OpensecretsCorporations and Health WatchPhRMA's home pagePBS series on the pharmaceutical industryBig Bucks, Big Pharma

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupation ...

, 68 minutes {{Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom Conflict of interest Lobbying in the United States Lobbying organizations