The deep-pocketed pharmaceutical and health products industry has lobbied on more than 1,400 congressional bills since 1998 and spent a whopping $759 million during that period, a Center for Public Integrity review of lobbying records revealed. Drug companies and manufacturers of health products have used more professional lobbyists in the last six and a half years—almost 3,000—than any other organized interest, the analysis also found. In comparison, the insurance industry, second-largest in terms of spending, spent $644 million in the same period and employed just over 2,000 lobbyists.
n recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has scored a series of legislative victories on Capitol Hill, which could potentially translate into tens of billions of dollars of additional revenue to drug companies annually. The federal government will buy drugs worth at least $40 billion from the companies every year once the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 goes into effect next year. In addition, critics have accused the industry of having undue influence over the Food and Drug Administration, the agency that regulates pharmaceutical interests.
...The passage of the new Medicare law had been an industry priority for many years. No wonder: The 415-page legislation contains several windfalls for drug companies, including a controversial provision that prohibits the federal government from negotiating with companies on drug prices.
The industry has also mounted campaigns to weaken federal regulation, strengthen patent protections, extend patents, win tax credits and get the federal machinery to protect its interests abroad, among other issues.
Other big wins on Capitol Hill include the extension of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act through September 2007, authorizing the FDA to continue collecting industry money to process drug approval applications.
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