Pharmaceutical Industry Funds Christian Group Opposition to Reimportation Legislation

The Traditional Values Coalition, a Christian advocacy group that represents 43,000 churches, received "behind-the scenes help" from the pharmaceutical industry in a campaign against abortion and prescription drug reimportation legislation, the Washington Post reports. The case marks the "latest example of pharmaceutical companies trying to influence Congress clandestinely," according to the Post (VandeHei/Eilperin, Washington Post, 7/23). Under a bill (HR 2427) sponsored by Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), U.S. pharmacists could import prescription drugs manufactured in a number of industrialized nations, provided that the medications are manufactured by companies that use counterfeit-resistant technologies and that the companies have registered their production operations with the FDA. Provisions in the House and Senate Medicare bills (HR 1 and S 1) would only allow the reimportation of U.S.-manufactured prescription drugs from Canada (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/22).

Rx Drug Industry Behind TVC Campaign?
The TVC maintains that prescription drug reimportation would provide U.S. residents with improved access to mifepristone, which causes a medical abortion when taken in combination with misoprostol. The TVC recently sent a letter to Congress, signed by Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, executive director for the group, saying the reimportation bill would create new "avenues" for the purchase of mifepristone and would "effectively repeal" a law that prohibits the sale of abortion products through the mail. According to computer records, Tony Rudy, a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist, first drafted the letter, the Post reports. According to the Post, Rudy also helped the TVC to obtain funds for a direct-mail campaign that targeted about 24 Republican lawmakers who oppose abortion-rights but might support the reimportation bill. "It is unclear who paid for the direct-mail campaign," but several Republican lawmakers maintain that pharmaceutical companies "were behind it," the Post reports. In addition, according to the Post, a memo distributed by Sheldon Lafferty that linked the reimportation bill to the availability of mifepristone was first drafted by Bruce Kuhlik, a senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Republican Reaction
Some House Republicans criticized the TVC direct-mail campaign. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said, "I do not understand ... how a religious organization can be manipulated by the pharmaceutical industry to do this sort of thing. They are supposed to be moral people. And yet I am confident, in fact I am dead sure, that the Traditional Values Coalition did not have the money to mail this kind of trash out to congressional districts all across the country." Pharmaceutical companies oppose the reimportation bill over concerns that the legislation would decrease their profits not because they oppose abortion, the Post reports. According to the Post, PhRMA has "long paid other organizations -- often those with friendly-sounding names such as the United Seniors Association -- to promote legislation favored by ... leading drug makers" to "make the campaigns appear driven" by other groups (Washington Post, 7/23).

Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "Morning Edition" on July 23 reports on the debate in Congress over drug reimportation legislation. The segment includes comments from Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) and Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) and FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/23). The full segment is available online in RealPlayer. The program also reports on the "significant impact" drug reimportation legislation could have on drug industry profits. The segment includes comments from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Richard Evans, Gutknecht and Urban Institute economist Marilyn Moon (Prakash, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/23). The full segment is available online in RealPlayer.