Pushing Prescriptions - a second bite

The Center for Public Integrity has recently released a report , detailing the multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign waged by the pharmaceutical industry to thwart state governments’ attempts to reduce drug prices.

Entitled “Pushing Prescriptions”, the Center report reveals that in 2003 and 2004, drug companies spent more than $44 million lobbying state government and more than $8 million in contributions to political candidates and organizations in states. In addition, the Center for Public Integrity reports that:

The pharmaceutical industry spent $1 million or more lobbying in 11 separate states in 2003 and 2004.

More than 40 percent of all reported lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry in those years took place in California ($8.9 million), Texas ($6.1 million) and New York ($4.3 million).

Since 2003, 33 states have enacted at least 66 separate pieces of cost-saving legislation related to drug prices.

In California, the pharmaceutical industry spent $83 million in a ballot-initiative battle that thwarted drug discount efforts — almost as much as the total of all campaign contributions it made to federal candidates from 1997 through 2004.

Center for Public Integrity Executive Director Roberta Baskin had this to say about the findings:
“At the same time that the pharmaceutical industry has been splurging millions of dollars to influence state legislatures and drug prices, they're celebrating enormous, multi-billion dollar profits. The losers, of course, are American consumers who continue to pay some of the highest prices for prescription drugs anywhere in the world."

In addition to uncovering the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying campaign, the Center for Public Integrity also offers individual drug company profiles, state-by-state analysis of drug company expenditures, and an in-depth look at the influence drug companies have had on state campaigns.

“Pushing Prescriptions” contains the most recent, and available, data on the drug industry’s lobbying practices. The report marks the completion of a year-long investigation by Center reporters, researchers and data experts.

To read the report in its entirety, click on an above hyperlink, or the following URL: http://www.publicintegrity.org/rx/default.aspx