FEC stats reveal pharma donations to presidential runners
pharmafile | February 12, 2016 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
Stats from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission (FEC), have revealed the extent of donations from the pharmaceutical industry to candidates running in the US presidential race.
CNN reports Democrat favourite Hilary Clinton as having received most financial backing from pharma. Of the total $951,018 received by the runners to the end of 2015, Clinton was donated $336,416- more than a third, and more than twice that received by any other candidate. The next-largest recipient is Jeb Bush at just over $150,000, with Bush followed closely by Marco Rubio.
Republican frontrunner-the controversial businessman Donald Trump, has received the least of any candidate, trailing with $1,010.
Clinton’s backing may or may not come as a surprise, in light of her tough stance on drug companies during her campaign to-date, sparked in part by the Martin Shkreli and Daraprim price scandal that broke last year. Trump has referred to Shkreli as a “spoiled brat”, while Clinton vowed a crackdown on drug companies, saying “it is time to deal with skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs.”
In October, Pharmafile.com reported Clinton had received hundreds of thousands of funding from the pharmaceutical industry, and the FEC stats reveal the extent of this backing.
Another favourite in the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders, has also criticised pharmaceutical companies for price hikes. Both he and Clinton support Government having a greater role in negotiating drug prices. Sanders, who the FEC stats show has received just shy of $50,000 in industry donations, revealed last month that he opposes the likely appointment of Dr Robert Califf as head of the FDA. The veteran politician claims Califf’s close ties to the industry, and consultation and research funding he received during his time at Duke University’s School of Medicine.
Despite the large sums revealed by the FEC stats however, pharma is actually just the 15th most generous industry when it comes to donations so far in the 2016 race for the White House.
Joel Levy
