The nation’s pharmaceutical trade group spent $27.5 million on lobbying in 2018, more than it ever has in a single year.
The spending, revealed in lobbying disclosure reports made public Tuesday, demonstrates the increasing pressure that drug companies face to lower their list prices. The Trump administration has been going after drug companies and threatened to take further measures if prices don’t go down, and Democrats in the House have vowed to bring in drug company executives to undergo questioning in public hearings.
The lobbying was carried out by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA. The group battled several pieces of legislation last year but was unable to defeat one measure that will cause drug companies to spend more on medicines that are paid for through Medicare.
The last time that PhRMA came close to spending as much as in 2018 was in 2009, when it spent roughly $25 million as lawmakers were debating Obamacare. One provision that Democrats endorsed at the time that would have allowed the government to set prices of drugs in Medicare was not ultimately included.
Drug spending from the government, private entities, and patients increased at record paces in 2014 and 2015, but slowed in 2016, according to actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Drug spending makes up about 10 percent of overall healthcare spending.
