Once again, Ian C. Read's proclivity for engaging with Trump's (almost universally wrong-headed) policies emerges -- in stark relief -- to the more cautious "wait and see" approach, at Merck. [We will label it "Read -- libertarian, with gusto".]
Pfizer spent on a much wider array of rather dubious "pie in the sky" initiatives than Merck, and many outside of straight health care delivery policy. Those included general policy matters related to taxation, and to patent evergreening policy. For what it is worth, here is the bulk of what Merck spent on (not unlike it had under prior administrations):
. . . .340B (no specific bill), Hepatitis C (general education; no specific bill), Vaccine policies (general education; first dollar coverage; preventative services), antimicrobial resistance (general education), biosimilars (no specific bill), cost and value of medicines (no specific bill), women's health (general education), Affordable Care Act, general pharmaceutical issues (transparency, formulary design, prescription drug coverage), PAHPA (Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2018); Drug pricing; Opioids [oddly misspelled, missing an "i"]. . . .
Now you know; I am very tardy with this Q2 data. In the coming days, I will produce a three way comparison -- with Amgen's spend included. One that looks at the full half-year, as compared to prior half years, in a trend-line fashion.
As to personal matters, it seems sometimes (most times, actually), the best course is to say nothing at all -- and smile, wryly. . . .
नमस्ते
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