Executive Summary
This policy brief examines the power dynamic of the pharmaceutical industry with regards to its influence in Washington. By exerting so much influence in the arena where the drug laws are drawn up, discussed, and passed, the pharmaceutical industry, also known as BIG Pharma due to their scope, size, and influence, has negatively affected the consumer in its market, namely the medical patient. The drug industry has done this through lobbying in Washington to keep laws relating to the pharmaceutical market favorable for the drug companies themselves. This brief examines three possible solutions to this problem: lobbying spending and lobbyist limits for pharmaceutical companies, a ban on direct advertisements by pharmaceutical companies, and more transparency and screening before prescribing prescription pain killers. In this analysis, the first alternative represents the best solution to this problem as it has the highest overall potential for benefit and less total cost than the other two possible solutions.
Introduction/Background
This policy brief examines the pharmaceutical industry and how it has come to gain too much power not only with regards to market power in its industry but also with regards to their influence in Washington. By having this much power, drug companies have negatively affected medical consumers/patients through continued increased prices and a steady decline in innovation. Steps need to be taken to eradicate this problem by reducing the scope of influence of large pharmaceutical companies in Washington and in the drug market.
Identification of Policy Problem The pharmaceutical industry, through its lobbying arm in Washington of over 3000 drug industry lobbyists, “spends over $800 million annually on lobbying expenses in the U.S. alone,” (Christian, 2014). In
