Powerful Drug Industry Lobby Organization, PhRMA Runs Ads To Keep Drug Prices High

The very powerful Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America(PhRMA) lobby organization is pulling out all stops to knock down any congressional efforts for government to negotiate lower drug prices. PhRMA has begun running propaganda TV ads in favor of the current Bush supported version of the drug benefits for Medicare, which keeps drug prices higher and costs the government substantial amounts of money that could be saved by negotiation for better prices.

This drug manufacturer lobby is one of the strongest in Washington as well, with at least 1,274 lobbyists currently, far more than there are members of congress. This powerful organization has also steadily increased it's spending on lobby efforts from $79 million only a few years ago to at least $158 million recently.

While the current free market system does tend to inspire more research due to the vast profits that can be made, it is also questionable whether many new drugs really satisfy a real need in the marketplace, instead of just representing a more expensive alternative to proven and tested older drugs that are often safer and less free of new drug side effects. Whether the system simply rewards smart Madison Avenue marketing of some less safe, less proven drugs, which are heavily promoted to doctors through free samples to spur prescription writing as well as TV marketing to create a public need is a real serious question. This runs backward to the traditional doctor-patient relationship in which the doctor diagnoses an illness and writes a suitable prescription. Now the patient is groomed by Madison Avenue TV ads to tell a doctor what drug that they feel the doctor should prescribe for them. The danger in all of this should be very apparent.

Lobby efforts that are huge and very expensive as well the heavy advertising of new high priced, less proven drugs are all problems that only increase the overall cost of drugs. Unfortunately this entire system only feeds on itself and creates a cycle of rapidly increasing drug prices as not only new drug research for useful drugs drives prices, but also old fashioned greed as well. This leaves many senior citizens who are the largest users of drugs caught in a price increasing bind that their meager Social Security or other benefits can hardly afford when their Medicare or other benefits do not cover the entire bill.