blog.bioethics.net

Drug Industry Funds Politicians:
Who Knew?

When Sen. Bill Frist needed help in November for a quick tour celebrating the victories of newly elected Republican senators, he didn't have to look far. A Gulfstream corporate jet owned by drugmaker Schering-Plough was ready to zip the Senate majority leader to stops in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Frist's political committee reimbursed the drugmaker $10,809, the equivalent
of a first-class fare for the same trip on a commercial airline, as campaign
rules require. The price, a fraction of the cost of a charter flight, was
almost a wash for Frist; Schering had donated $10,000 to his committee in
2003-04. What he got was worth far more: the convenience, luxury and
efficiency of flying on his own schedule.

The drug company's friendly gesture toward the Senate's most powerful member
illustrates the political clout of the pharmaceutical industry. It will be
needed in the months ahead as the industry faces the threat of increased
federal regulation, brought on by mounting concerns about the safety of the
nation's drug supply.

The drug companies' corporate planes have been made available not only to
Frist, but also for dozens of trips taken by other powerful lawmakers. House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., took at least four trips to GOP fundraising
events in the past two years aboard Pfizer's Gulfstream.

Drug companies and their officials contributed at least $17 million to
federal candidates in last year's elections, including nearly $1 million to
President Bush and more than $500,000 to his opponent, John Kerry. At least
18 members of Congress received more than $100,000 apiece.

The industry also liberally funds think tanks and patient-advocacy groups
that don't bear its name but often take its side; the National Patient
Advocate Foundation, for instance, receives financial support from at least
10 drug companies. And the industry isn't above playing hardball, according
to David Graham, a Food and Drug Administration scientist who got on its bad
side.

Since 1998, drug companies have spent $758 million on lobbying — more than
any other industry, according to government records analyzed by the Center
for Public Integrity, a watchdog group. In Washington, the industry has
1,274 lobbyists — more than two for every member of Congress.

...A spokesman for drugmaker
Novartis, Sheldon Jones, confirmed that company lobbyists were aboard for
three trips carrying lawmakers in 2003 and 2004. One, in June 2003, took
Reps. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y.; Mike Oxley, R-Ohio; and Mike Rogers, R-Mich., to
a Republican fundraiser in New York City. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Sen.
Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., also took trips on the Novartis Learjet.
Of the 1,274 people registered to lobby in Washington for drugmakers in
2003, according to the Center for Public Integrity, 476 are former federal
officials — including 40 former members of Congress. “They are one of the
strongest, most well-connected and most effective lobbies in Washington,”
says Amy Allina of the National Women's Health Network. “Going up against
them is more often than not a losing battle.”