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The Other Drug War II:
Drug Companies Use an Army of 623 Lobbyists to Keep Profits Up
A new Public Citizen report shows how pharmaceutical companies and their trade associations used hundreds of lobbyists and millions of dollars to influence Congress and the administration. The full bill for this massive buttonholing operation recently became public with the availability of nearly all lobby disclosure reports for the year 2001. Using these lobbying reports, along with information about the lobbyists’ "revolving door" connections, Public Citizen’s investigation shows the following:
- Overall, drug companies spent $78.1 million on lobbying in 2001, bringing the total lobbying bill for 1997–2001 to $403,071,467. The companies employed 623 different individual lobbyists in 2001 – or more than one lobbyist for every member of Congress.
- The 10 most active drug companies and industry groups spent 16 percent more on Washington, D.C. lobbying in 2001 than the previous year. They increased the number of lobbyists they employed by 30 percent.
- 340 of those lobbyists (54 percent) have "revolving door" connections; in other words, they previously worked in Congress or another branch of the federal government. 23 of the 623 lobbyists are former members of Congress. 32 of the lobbyists worked for the two House committees writing the Medicare prescription drug legislation.
- This army of lobbyists waged several successful campaigns. Congress did not create a Medicare drug benefit; the industry’s monopoly patent protections were not weakened; the pediatric incentive granting an extra six months of patent protection if a company tests the safety of its drugs in children was re-authorized (at a cost of $14 billion to consumers); and legislation giving U.S. consumers access to prescription drugs sold at significantly lower prices in foreign countries was not adopted.
- In 2001, brand-name drug companies outgunned the generic drug companies they often compete with. Brand-name companies accounted for 97 percent of all pharmaceutical lobbying spending ($75.7 million out of $78.1 million). Brand-name companies also employed nine lobbyists for every one employed by generic companies.
- These lobbying expenditures only include what the industry spent in Washington to lobby Capitol Hill and the executive branch. It does not include issue ads, fake "grassroots" mobilizing or campaign contributions. From 1997 to 2002, the drug industry gave $37,344,834 to candidates and parties.
A copy of Public Citizen’s report is available at: http://www.citizen.org/congress/campaign/special_interest/articles.cfm?ID=7827
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