AbbVie is dropping its membership in major industry trade groups Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the broader CEO Business Roundtable association.
AbbVie did not give a reason for dropping the memberships, saying only in a statement: “We regularly evaluate our memberships with industry trade associations, and our most recent evaluation led us to decide not to renew our memberships with select trade associations. “
The news was first reported by Politico.
Endpoints News asked 10 other Big Pharma companies whether they are leaving, or considering leaving, PhRMA or another industry organization. While not all responded before press time, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Novartis were among those who said they have no plans to leave any industry group.
AbbVie’s decision to leave the main lobbying group comes after a major defeat in Congress this summer with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, creating the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, with multiple influences from the drug industry. her drug. The bill would also limit out-of-pocket costs for seniors and cap their monthly insulin costs at $35.
PhRMA confirmed AbbVie’s departure to the media and said, in part, that Big Pharma’s departure “does not change our focus on fighting for the solutions that patients and our healthcare system need.”
PhRMA and its lobbyists aren’t used to losing — they had successfully turned back efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for more than a decade — so the historic loss could cause many people to reevaluate what happened. .
AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez faced a fight from a Senate committee in 2019 over Humira’s pricing tactics, and he testified again, before the House Oversight committee in May 2021, with representatives from both sides row who expressed outrage after internal documents showed how AbbVie initially designed biosimilar competition for its megablockbuster Humira in 2017, but then “used legally dubious tactics” to delay access to biosimilars until next year.
Gonzalez was among more than 30 pharma chief executives who signed a letter in early August, sent shortly before the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, citing concerns about the bill’s “attack on medical innovation and the deceptive way it is sold to Americans. public.”
