PhRMA Spends $6.3 Lobbying In Fourth Quarter, Slight Increase From Year Before

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $6.3 million lobbying Congress and other government arms on health care in the fourth quarter of 2009, The Associated Press reports. PhRMA "spent just 2 percent more than the $6.17 million it paid out for lobbying in the year-ago period. The group's members include drug giants Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson and more than two dozen other U.S. and foreign companies." PhRMA is the main trade group for the pharmaceutical industry; it lobbied on the health overhaul including bills that would allow generic versions of biologic drugs, "an idea that most traditional pharmaceutical companies support as a new area where they could make money." Biotech firms that developed the drugs are opposed. "The group also lobbied on several health care-related parts of the 2010 federal budget, including funding for pandemic preparedness and for both the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration" (3/10).