| WASHINGTON
- June 13 - During the last ten years, the Pharmaceutical Research
and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) and its member
companies wrote a prescription for an estimated $360 million
in lobbying, advertising, and political donations to
protect their ambitious legislative agenda, according
to a report released today by the Common Cause Education
Fund (CCEF). And that agenda, says the report, has
resulted in higher costs for consumers, less access to
affordable drugs for the sick and elderly, and special
tax breaks for what is considered to be one of the world's
most profitable industries.
[The full text of Prescription For Power is available
as an Adobe.pdf document at:
http://commoncause.org/publications/june01/phrma/061201.pdf
An html version is also available - http://www.commoncause.org/publications/june01/phrma/.
If
you need a hard copy of the report, call the Common
Cause Press Office at 202/736-5770.]
The CCEF report documents how brand-name drug companies
spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to lobby
the federal government, and how those lobbying efforts
were backed up by more than $21.4 million in soft money
contributions to national party committees, and more
than $16.6 million in political action committee (PAC)
donations to federal candidates. The report also details
how the industry has created and used deceptively named
front groups like "Citizens for Better Medicare" to put
a pro-consumer sheen on their pro-industry efforts.
"No one faults this industry for its quest for reasonable
profitability," Common Cause Education Fund President
Scott Harshbarger said. "But this is an industry that
has used its political power to sabotage all efforts to
reduce the cost of prescription drugs for American
families - hurting our pocketbooks and jeopardizing our
health."
Congress has responded to the industry's generosity with
an overdose of special favors, generous tax breaks, and
other favorable legislation, according to the report,
including:
- Patent extensions. Congress has helped brand-name
companies hold on to the patents on some of their most
profitable products, preventing consumers from taking
advantage of less expensive generic versions. Twice,
legislation passed by Congress has helped Schering-Plough
hold on to its patent on the popular allergy drug,
Claritin, extending the company's monopoly on the drug
for nearly four more years. Nevertheless, Schering-Plough
continues to fight to keep its Claritin patent beyond its
current 2002 expiration date.
Schering-Plough made a $50,000 donation to the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), then chaired by
Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) - just a day before the
Senator introduced legislation that would give Claritin
and six other drugs the chance to have their patents
extended.
During the same summer that Senator - and presidential
candidate - Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and his staff were flying
Schering-Plough's Gulfstream jet five times, he was
holding hearings on the Torricelli legislation.
- Freeloading on government research. The industry has
successfully fought efforts to restore rules requiring
reasonable pricing for drugs developed with the help of
government funding from the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). Even though the NIH spent $32 million helping
develop Bristol- Myers Squibb's powerful Taxol breast
and ovarian cancer drug, the company charged top dollar
for the mediation. A full course of treatment with
Taxol can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 - earning
$1 billion a year for Bristol Myers Squibb.
An amendment that would have forced drug companies to
charge "reasonable prices" for government-aided drugs
passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives -
but was killed in the Senate in 2000.
- Tax breaks. The Congressional Research Service found
in 2000 that the pharmaceutical industry was the most
lightly taxed of all major industries - thanks in large
part to a slew of custom-built tax breaks offered by
Congress over the years. These breaks include a tax
credit for research and experimentation, which the
industry has been able to extend ten times - even to
companies that charge U.S. consumers much more than
they charge foreign consumers. Even when Congress has
phased out a measure that disproportionately aids the
pharmaceutical industry - like a tax break for companies
with operations in Puerto Rico - Congress has done so
on the industry's terms.
Prescription for Power: http://www.commoncause.org/publications/june01/phrma/
or
http://commoncause.org/publications/june01/phrma/061201.pdf
For more information, contact the Common Cause Press
Office at 202/736-5770.
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