Pharma Deal With White House on Course to Net Industry 137 Billion in Sales!

[Better Believe It]

Pharma Deal With White House on Course to Net Industry Billions
By Sam Stein
Huffington Post
November 11, 2009

The deal struck between the pharmaceutical lobby, the White House and Senate Democrats has drastically improved Big Pharma's expected profits, a private industry report finds.

IMS Health, a company that supplies the pharmaceutical companies with sales data, predicts that new health reform legislation -- combined with a projected upswing in the economy -- will result in a net gain of more than $137 billion in total market sales over the next four years. The new assessment was contained in document obtained by the Huffington Post.

Back in March, that same firm projected a compound annual growth rate of -0.1 percent in the period of 2008 through 2013. In October, with the general outlines of health care reform clearly in place, it revised that number to a positive 3.5 percent for over the same period.

What happened in those seven months? The economy started looking up, for one, as did the overall prospects of health care reform. But the industry also won a major lobbying victory.

PhRMA, the lobby entity for the industry's heavy hitters, reached a secret deal with the White House and the Senate Finance Committee in June. As detailed in a memo first published by The Huffington Post, the Obama administration agreed to oppose congressional efforts to use government leverage to bargain for lower drug prices. The White House also agreed not to shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would have cost the industry billions in reduced reimbursements. All this in exchange for $80 billion over ten years to help push for reform.

The Senate version of the healthcare bill still conforms to the deal (that the White House has still never officially confirmed). The House bill is in the same ballpark, although it would cost Big Pharma an extra $14 billion.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2009/november/pharma-deal-with-white-house-on-course-to-net-industry-billions.html