Big Pharma tells Santa: All I want for Christmas

Last week it looked like Big Pharma had won the latest skirmish over importing low cost drugs from Canada and other countries. But the battle isn’t over yet. As FiercePharma told its drug company readers today: “And you thought you could stop worrying about re-importation.”
Senator Dorgan’s amendment to the health care reform bill went down to defeat on Tuesday, but on Sunday David Axelrod, senior political advisor to President Obama, told CNN that “the president is committed to moving forward” on this issue. “Let me be clear,” he said. “The president supports re-importation … safe re-importation of drugs into this country. … There’s no reason why Americans should pay a premium for the pharmaceuticals that other people in other countries pay less for.”

The administration will move forward on this issue, just not in connection with health care reform, where Obama needed the support of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Now that that’s (almost) over, he can get back to campaign promises about re-importation.

Mail to Santa’s House, visible from Wasilla, Alaska

Meanwhile, John Mack of Pharma Marketing Blog sympathetically captures Big Pharma’s greed in this clever letter to Santa. It was “intercepted” at a US post office and forwarded by an “anonymous source.”

December 17, 2009
Santa Claus
aka Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle
Santa Claus House
100 St. Nicholas Drive
North Pole (visible from Wasilla, Alaska)
Dear Santa:
As you know, it’s been a tough year for the pharmaceutical industry. I could list all the bad news, but where to start? Well, first there’s this president and all these Democrats to deal with in Congress!
But let’s not focus on the negative!
As you may have heard, we DID deal with the Democrats by pledging $80 billion in drug cost reductions over ten years! That proves we have been good, doesn’t it Santa?
You may have read the news about the billions of dollars in fines we had to pay this year. I hope you understand that all had to do with PAST “naughty” behavior, not how we behaved in 2009. I know you won’t count that against us, as we very much would like to be on your list of “nice” industries.
Did I mention that the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation among US consumers is now a few percentage points better than it used to be? We have a better reputation than automakers and the financial industry, that’s for sure! I won’t even mention tobacco!
Enough about us! It’s time to give you our list. You know, the list of presents we’d like for Christmas, please. Here it is:
1. A nice healthcare reform bill that does not include a “naughty” public option, that does not include the right of Medicare to negotiate drug prices, that does not allow reimportation of drugs from Canada, but that DOES increase the number of people covered by health insurance who will then be able to buy our products. That would be very nice!
2. Do I need to mention how much we would like guidance from the FDA on how it will regulate drug promotion on the Internet and social networks? Right now, we are really hurting because we cannot advertise on Google. I’m sure you also heard from Google about this. It may be a bit too technical for you to understand, but just tell the FDA that we want the “one-click rule” to be sanctioned by them. They will understand what you mean.
3. You have tremendous influence over consumers and the economy on a global scale. Therefore, I don’t think we are out of line requesting that you see to it that worldwide sales of drugs rebound to double-digit growth in 2010. Do you think you can manage that?
There’s a bunch of other presents we’d like to get – such as shutting down Senator Grassley’s anti-drug industry investigations – but, if we get the above presents, we can manage just fine.
Oh, I almost forgot one more wish…
We wish that all the children of the world can live together in peace, harmony and good health.
Sincerely,
The Global Pharmaceutical Industry

John Mack’s blog post also included this totally appropriate Steve Martin video:

Related posts:
Campaign contributions and the cost of pharmaceuticals
Importing drugs from Canada: Will lobbyists win or lose this round?
Big Pharma lobbies against health reform: Big time