So -- even as Merck closes in on $50 million spent on lobbyists over just the last five years, it is plain that big pharma generally -- and Merck specifically -- will not see the same lofty ROIs in the coming five years.
Why? Because the $90 billion that drives the gargantuan ROI is actually slowly being contributed back, by pharma -- as it moves forward in closing the donut hole, and it had agreed to foot the bill (or a large part of the bill), on various other health care reform measures, in the Obamacare rollout/implementation (2011-2014).
And again, that will be increasingly good news, for the American health care (and drug) consumer. So -- eye-popping figures, to be sure -- but past results in this case, almost certainly will not be a predictor of future performance (on the ROI scale, for Merck, here). From the site of the original underlay graphic then, circa late 2012 (so, it is a bit dated):
. . . .But as long as we have a political system that bends to the whims of Big Money, the best ROI you can get is to [hire] a lobbyist. . . .
It is likely true that Big Oil and Big Business generally, will be able to bend the law, to favor their wishes -- for. . . essentially ever, here in the US. And pharma will be no exception -- it just is unlikely to be the leader of the pack, in the next five years. If nothing else, with federal and state run exchanges and other quasi-governmental payers taking a driver seat, pharma's branded drug margins are definitively going to shrink. And that would be true -- even if generics were not entering the fray. And they are -- in a steady, silent, marching army -- out there, in the snow. . . they are marching into your town, your village -- your pharmacy, right now.
And well. . . the snow is piling up in drifts, yet again -- but the wind chills make it a balmy plus 7, so it is time to go shovel (again). . . in the meantime, be excellent to one another.
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