Drugmakers May Fund $100 Million Ad Campaign on Health Overhaul

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Drugmakers may ramp up their push for an overhaul of the U.S. health care system by spending $100 million on ads starting as early as September, said a person familiar with the discussion.

The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, the industry lobbying group, discussed funding the advertising campaign during a meeting last week in Washington, the person said. PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said no decision has been reached on the group’s campaign strategy for when Congress reconvenes after the August recess.

PhRMA will be running television commercials in August, in states where pharmaceutical companies have operations, asserting the importance of the drug industry for the economy, Johnson said. The drugmakers, by offering to lower drugs costs by $80 billion over 10 years, became one of the first industries to reach an agreement with the Obama administration in its efforts to revamp the health-care system. The drugmakers said they would oppose legislation allowing the government to negotiate prices on medicines sold through the U.S. drug program of Medicare.

“We are always preparing to fight back against bad public policy that would hurt patients and our ability to discover and develop new life saving medicines,” Johnson said July 24 in a telephone interview.

Ad Campaign May Grow

Two people familiar with the discussions in Washington said the amount of money put into ads may increase to $120 million.

Washington-based PhRMA represents 28 drugmakers, including New York-based Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, with headquarters in London.

The content of the ads will depend on the legislation crafted in the House and Senate, where different procedural and political dynamics are at work.

Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and chairman of a House committee writing health-care legislation, said this month that the deal Pfizer and other companies made to discount brand-name drugs for the elderly with gaps in Medicare prescription coverage was “really a Senate agreement.”

The industry’s $80 billion pledge was negotiated with Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and senior White House aides. Baucus is struggling to reach a bipartisan deal on his panel before the Aug. 7 recess.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aHMaDF4PRvMQ

[Captain Hilts]

1. For years, they used George W. Bush's pollster. Don't trust their message. nt

[godai]

2. I'm guessing there's a 'don't touch drug prices' agreement with Obama.

I know there was a potential drug cost savings announced but I believe that focused on seniors. Drug prices in the US are high and unregulated. If PhRMA is supporting health care reform, there must be something in it for them. If they could get 45 million more Americans with health insurance, with low copays for Rx drugs, their gravy train of high priced drugs, paid mostly through health insurance premiums, will continue.

On the other hand, Obama needs all the TV ads of support that he can get.

[Bozita]

3. The Supreme Court calls this free speech?

[cslinger59]

4. Great.......

Just want I need more ads on TV from drug companies.

I am sad....take this pill
I am horny....take this pill
I am mad....take this pill
My leg is restless...take this pill
My leg is not restless...take this pill
My kids are acting like kids....give them this pill

Some mild side effects may occur such as drowsiness or intense violent pain and bleeding from your eye sockets resulting in fission and possible nuclear explosion of all your cells.

Do they have a drug for my cynicism??? Oh yeah Prozac/Paxil........etc.

Where is my Bourbon. (Hey you medicate your way I medicate mine. :D)

[strategery blunder]

15. +1

You hit the nail on the head...drug companies spend more on marketing than they do on research, so they're flat out lying with the "we need high prices to fund research" canard.

[pattmarty]

5. This "reform" is turning into another Bush Medicare reform.

After I heard yesterday that a Senate committee stripped out the "public option" AND mandating large employers to cover their employees, I have come to the conclusion that this is just another boondoggle for insurance, drug and for profit hospital industries. It's the Bush Medicare "reform" on steroids. My belief now is that if we lose the so called "public option" we should just leave it as it is. Because it appears what is now happening is ALL the industries are taking control of the legislation (and legislators) and will turn the final bill into a feeding frenzy for themselves. After I heard this info late yesterday, I am now AGAINST reform as it is now taking shape. I will say Obama is not as bad as the Bush bunch, but when it comes to big business and large corporations the only difference is the types of corporations each of them supports. It looks like we the people will get fucked again. If we don't get REAL reform, then leave it as it is, I don't want it worse than it is now which it will be if these Dems get their way for the healthcare industry which they are beholden to.

[IrishBuckeye]

6. How much does big Pharma spend on buying Congress? $1.6 billion since 1998

Congress is in their pockets...


The pharmaceutical and health products industry has long been the top dog on K Street. Since 1998, the industry has spent more than $1.6 billion on federal lobbying. Last year alone, it spent more than $234 million — a sum that translates into roughly $125,000 every hour that Congress was actually in session. Furthermore, in the first three months of 2009, it spent more than $66.5 million on these politicking efforts — or about $1.2 million a day that Congress has been open for business. And these figures are just a portion of their overall expenditures. They also spend big on advertising, research, polling and other efforts that don’t get classified as lobbying.

-more-

http://www.saddlebrookedemocrats.org/27/pharmaceutical-lobby-gives-congress-12-million-per-day/




More money spent on marketing than R&D by big Pharma
...

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) uses data from IMS, a firm specializing in pharmaceutical market intelligence, to conclude that pharmaceutical companies spend U.S. $29.6 billion on R&D and U.S. $27.7 billion for all promotional activities (data from 2004). Even if these numbers can be trusted, and the pharmaceutical industry is altruistic, why are these expenses so close? An investigative article in the Public Library of Science (PLoS), who used proprietary databases to construct a new, and quite possibly more accurate estimate, states the money goes to marketing twice as often than R&D.

...
Combining the information gathered from CAM, as well as IMS, the total amount of money spent on marketing by pharmaceuticals was U.S. $57.5 billion for 2004. The total spent on domestic industrial pharmaceutical R&D was U.S. $31.5 billion.


-more-
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_10538.cfm

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Resulting in...higher drug prices!

$100M stripped out of the bottom line.


Aargh.

[NMMOM]

8. It's just the ..

Fox guarding the henhouse don't ya think?

[Laelth]

9. Vomit. Why do we "negotiate" with oligarchs and Republicans?

It makes no sense. Even after negotiation they oppose the legislation to which they agreed earlier.

We need to fight them, not work with them. They have proven they will do nothing but stab us in the back.

:dem:

-Laelth

[SOS]

10. Pfizer Q2 report

$2 billion profit in 12 weeks.
3,750 employees fired.

Percent of budget allotted to marketing and advertising: 50%
Percent of budget allotted to cancer research: 0.5%

To hell with these gangsters!

[redqueen]

11. "$2 billion profit in 12 weeks."

Jesus...

[timeforpeace]

12. This whole thing has always been orchestrated by big pharma and the insurance companies.

They've been waiting for a Democratic administration to put their plans into action. We've been sold a bill of goods. Again.

[redqueen]

13. Not yet we haven't.

Things aren't looking so good right now, granted. No final bill as of yet though.

[pattmarty]

14. Yeah, but if it's gotten to this point so far, it ain't lookin' good. I would........

........rather leave it as it is than put some shit system in and have to pay MORE for it. Fuck these bastards.