Big Pharma corporate PACs have spent over $140,000,000 since Citizens United
The United States Justice Department announced that Purdue Pharma, which manufactured OxyContin and is owned by members of the Sackler family, has pleaded guilty for criminal involvement in perpetuating the country’s opioid crisis. Purdue Pharma is facing a $8.3 billion penalty for deceitfully promoting and marketing opioids to the American people.
Since the 2010 Citizens United decision, Big Pharma corporate PACs have spent over $140 million on political campaigns. Senator Susan Collins has received over $325,000 from Big Pharma corporate PACs, including from PACs connected to companies sued because of their involvement in the opioid crisis. Collins has taken $2,300 from the Sackler family.
“Susan Collins cares more about padding her campaign coffers than Mainers’ livelihoods,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “While families are being devastated by the opioid crisis, Collins is turning a blind eye and instead taking money from those perpetuating the problem, like the Sackler family. It’s corruption, plain and simple.”
From 1998-2017, the drug industry spent $3.7 billion on lobbying, which is $1 billion more than any other industry. In 2018, the pharmaceutical industry hired nearly 1,470 lobbyists, nearly three lobbyists for every single member of the House. As their lobbying efforts grew, Big Pharma continued to raise prescription drug prices, increasing the price of 3,400 prescription drugs in the first half of 2019 at an average rate of five times that of inflation.
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