Big Pharma in Congress

Pharmaceutical companies are injecting Congress with millions of dollars in lobbying. For example, Truvada increased its lobby spending by 117 percent in the third quarter of 2019 in comparison to the same time last year. AbbVie increased its spending by 200 percent and Sanofi, a company that produces insulin, increased its spending by 105 percent, according to Jesse Hellmann for The Hill.

Given that there is bipartisan support and bills being drafted in Congress, pharmaceutical industries feel that their profits will decrease if these bills pass. One of the bills was introduced by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, which would allow the government to negotiate prescription drug prices through Medicare. In response to this proposal by the Speaker, besides increased lobby spending, industries claim that "government price-setting would kill drug innovation." Despite this infusion of money into Congress by lobbyists, I think there is political will to reign in drug companies, since polls show that affordable healthcare and accessibility of medicine are becoming increasingly salient issues.

   
Link: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/466980-drug-companies-spend-millions-on-lobbying-as-congress-tries-to-reign-in