Or, "I think you can see where this is going. . . ."
According to the influence in government watchdog-site OpenSecrets.org, it is, and has been, consistently, every year since 1998, the pharmaceutical industry -- spending over $1.62 Billion (or $1,620,092,198, more precisely), for over the past ten years. Note that pharma outspends hospitals about two to one, in any given year -- but this year, 2009, pharma is on a pace to outspend hospitals three to one.
In any event, here is the Lobying Disclosure Act Report data for the First Quarter of 2009, and full-year 2008:
Industry Q1 2009 $ 2008 $ Spent .. .. .. Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $66,572,765 $234,067,158 Oil & Gas $44,512,605 $128,959,521 Insurance $41,370,798 $154,006,322 Electric Utilities $35,120,775 $159,130,986 Computers/Internet $29,416,021 $120,411,535 TV/Movies/Music $25,125,769 $101,575,424 Education $24,219,889 $104,266,057 Hospitals/Nursing Homes $23,743,967 $101,059,188 Misc Man. & Dist. $23,583,965 $98,881,169 Air Transport $22,805,170 $104,967,502 Business Associations $22,655,543 $129,963,262
More specifically, here is a PDF file of Schering-Plough's 2009 Q1 lobying disclosure form. Of interest is the disclosure (on page 6 of 9) that it lobbied the government about a ". . . .response to congressional investigation regarding ENHANCE study. . . ." during Q1 2009 (it also did so, during Q3 2008 and Q4 2008 -- on page 9 of those forms).
Geez -- I wonder what those efforts looked like. [And yes, full disclosure -- this Washington Post item put me on a track to post this one.]
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