Threatened by regulated price caps from congress, the pharmaceutical industry spent nearly $390 million on lobbying in 2021 according to new data from OpenSecrets.
Healthcare companies outspent every other industry on lobbying federal and state representatives last year, according to newly released data from OpenSecrets.
Health companies spent nearly $690 million on lobbying federally, which was $175 million more than the 2nd place category. Within the industry, the largest lobbying bills were racked up by pharmaceutical companies, which spend $356 million on federal lobbying alone. The industry spent $32 million in the 19 states that give access to such data.
The chart below shows lobbyist spending by each of the top healthcare organizations. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, PhRMA, was the 3rd largest spender on federal lobbying of any company in any industry in 2021.
Much of the reason for outsized spending by the pharmaceutical industry was related to H.R. 3, a bill that would cap drug prices at 120% of the average price of the same drugs in other developed countries.
