Pharma and healthcare bag top spot in US lobbying table

A report from the Center for Responsive Politics has also revealed that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $3.61 million on political lobbying during the period, placing the industry group at the 11th place in the table of biggest spenders for the year so far in terms of organisations.

However the pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry emerged as the overall top spender in terms of industries. The insurance sector bagged the second spot with $40.53 million.

The PhRMA has lobbied particularly against legislative proposals to: allow importing of prescription drugs from countries where these are cheaper than in the US; give the federal government powers to negotiate prices with manufacturers for prescription drugs supplied to seniors under the Medicare program; transform the US patent system; and create a regulatory pathway for the approval of generic versions for biotechnology products at the FDA.

According to PharmaTimes, the pharmaceutical industry has also increased its lobbying activities at state level, in support of legislative proposals which would deprive the pharmacist of his right to replace certain brand-name drugs with generics when filling prescriptions, except in cases where the prescriber has stipulated that the branded product only must be supplied. Instead, most of the proposals would require the pharmacist to inform the prescriber, or obtain their permission, before making a substitution.