http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_33.asp
Drug Money:Â
The Pharmaceutical Industry's
Post-Sept. 11th Lobbying
With fears of bioterrorism on the rise, members of Congress and the Bush
administration are looking to boost the nation’s defenses when it comes to
infectious diseases--a plan that includes spending billions of dollars to
stockpile vaccines and antibiotics that could fight outbreaks like anthrax and
smallpox.
On the frontlines of this debate is the pharmaceutical industry, which has
offered Washington unprecedented help in its efforts to combat terrorism.
Companies have made available free supplies of drugs and vaccines, while at the
same time offering to loan some of the industry’s most talented scientists to
work with government agencies in the development of new cures.
But such offers rarely come without strings attached—especially when they
come from one of the most powerful special interest lobbies in Washington.
In exchange for its help, the drug industry, the 10th biggest campaign
contributor to federal parties and candidates so far this year, is pressing
President Bush and Congress for some major policy concessions. Pharmaceutical
companies have asked to be protected from lawsuits should the vaccines they
develop to fight terrorism cause health problems. They want to block generic
drug companies from making cheaper version of their drugs, and they are
pressing the Food and Drug Administration to review and approve new drugs more
quickly.
Few of these requests are new, but the political atmosphere in which they are
being debated is. Although Congress repeatedly has rejected such requests in
the past, much of the industry wish list is included in a bioterrorism defense
bill recently introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Bill Frist
(R-Tenn.).
So far this year, the drug industry has contributed nearly $5 million in soft
money, PAC and individual contributions to federal parties and candidates, more
than two-thirds to Republicans. That includes roughly $500,000 in soft money
drug makers contributed to the Senate fund-raising committees during the month
of October alone. Major contributors included Pfizer ($125,000 to the National
Republican Senatorial Committee), Schering-Plough ($50,000 to the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee) and Johnson & Johnson ($50,000 to both the DSCC
and NRSC).
The drug industry’s lobbying—and offers of assistance—come at a time when
pharmaceutical companies continue to fend off congressional attempts to make
prescription drugs cheaper, a policy move that was heavily touted during the
2000 elections. The industry also continues to fight legislation that would
sharply curb its marketing practices, among other things.
In some cases, however, the lobbying is surprisingly specific. Bristol-Myers
Squibb, for instance, is pressing lawmakers to be exempted from legislation
that would endanger its patent on Glucophage, a diabetes drug that is the
company’s biggest seller. Its patent is due to expire in two months, but the
company hopes to extend its monopoly another three years via a seldom-used
legal loophole that allows it to evoke exclusive marketing rights to a drug if
the company discloses another use for the product.
In the case of Glucophage, Bristol-Myers Squibb found that the drug was safe on
children, and in turn, the company hopes to prevent generic competition by
evoking its exclusive right to label the drug for pediatric use. However, the
House and Senate recently approved legislation that would close that loophole,
thwarting Bristol-Myers Squibb’s plan to exclusively market the drug until
February 2004. With the bill pending in conference committee, Bristol-Myers
Squibb recently has retained an army of lobbyists whose primary goal is to
protect the company’s patent.
So far this year, Bristol-Myers Squibb has contributed just under $650,000 in
soft money, PAC and individual contributions to federal parties and candidates,
78 percent to Republicans. The latest installment: a $250,000 check the company
contributed to the NRSC on Oct. 22—just days after the Senate approved its
version of the bill.