Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1357

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Weiss S.
Contributions correlate with outcome of drug reimportation vote
Capital Eye 2003 Jul 24

Full text:

Last night’s House vote on drug reimportation was unusual in that it did not break down along strict party lines, as many votes do. But the vote was anything but unusual in at least one major respect: campaign contributions were a solid indicator of the outcome.

The bill, which would ease the way for low-cost prescription drugs sold abroad to be “reimported” to the United States, passed by a vote of 243-186. Eighty-seven Republicans joined 155 Democrats and one Independent to support the bill in what represented a startling rebuke of the pharmaceutical industry, one of the most influential interests in Washington, which lobbied hard to oppose the measure.

Campaign contribution figures show that lawmakers who sided with pharmaceutical interests (voting “no” on the bill) raised an average of nearly three times as much from drug firms as those who took the alternate position (voting “yes”). Members who voted against the bill raised an average of $39,813 in individual and PAC contributions from pharmaceutical manufacturers between 1989 and 2002. Members who voted for the bill raised an average of $13,917 from the industry during that time.

When contributions in only the 2002 election cycle are considered, the averages are $14,958 to members who voted no, and $4,058 to those who voted yes.

The disparity is greater among Democrats than Republicans. Democrats who voted “no” raised an average of $42,671 from drug companies between 1989 and 2002, nearly four times more than the average raised by Democrats who voted “yes” ($11,125). In the 2002 cycle alone, Democrats who voted “no” raised an average of five times more from drug firms ($13,740) than those who voted “yes” ($2,623).

Republicans who voted against the bill raised an average of $38,901 from the drug industry between 1989 and 2002 ($15,347 in the 2002 cycle alone), compared to the $19,051 ($6,662 in the 2002 cycle alone) raised by Republicans who supported it.

(View charts that break down the funds raised according to members’ votes and party affiliation. A list of individual members, their votes and funds raised from pharmaceutical manufacturers is also available.)

Supporters of the bill say it would help to lower the cost of prescription drugs that are available at far cheaper prices abroad than they sell for domestically. The measure’s opponents argue that reimported drugs could pose safety risks to consumers and hamper the innovation of new drugs. The bill faces an uncertain outcome in the Senate.