Policy prescriptions, the firepower of the EU pharmaceutical lobby...

.

 
This report exposes 

the excessive lobbying influence 

of the pharmaceutical industry 

on EU decision-making. 

Big pharma enjoys 

semi-systematic privileged access 

to decision-making in Brussels, 

facilitated by its vast lobby expenditure, 

complex web of actors, 

extensive meetings with policy-makers, 

and participation in advisory groups.

Published by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), September 2015. 

Research and writing: Rachel Tansey

The pharmaceutical industry – including companies, associations and the top ten lobby firms they employ – have a declared lobby spend of nearly €40 million. 

That is around 15 times more than the lobby expenditure of civil society and consumer groups which work on public health or access to medicines. Although many pharma industry actors declare more realistic expenditure in the lobby register than three years ago, the real spending may be much more. 
Nonetheless, the top ten biggest spending pharmaceutical companies now declare €6 million more than in 2012, whilst the top eight European pharmaceutical industry trade associations declare seven times more.

Moreover this powerful lobby has had a staggering number of meetings with European Commission departments and officials. 
The largest public-private partnership in the EU is with the pharmaceutical industry. Alongside its gargantuan resources and considerable access, the industry has an impressive lobbying arsenal. 

Its efforts are now focused on ensuring US-EU trade agreement TTIP furthers its profit-motivated agenda, including its property rights and to prevent vital data transparency for big pharma’s clinical trials. 
 (...)

The pharmaceutical industry holds the reigns of a vast and well-resourced lobbying machine in Brussels, enjoying almost systematic access to European Commission decision-makers. This breeds serious fears over excessive influence of big pharma on EU decision-making, to the detriment of public health and trade justice.

The colossal, multi-million lobbying expenditure from pharma companies, trade associations, and lobby firms acting on their behalf, dramatically dwarfs the spending of civil society public health and access to medicines advocates by around 15 times. Extensive meetings with policy-makers – including over 50 meetings with EU pharma trade association EFPIA in the first four and half months of the Juncker Commission – and participation in Commission advisory groups are some of the channels of influence that the pharmaceutical industry uses to promote its interests.

A major rebalancing of interests is urgently needed, beginning with full transparency over industry lobbying and influence. This can can only come through a truly mandatory EU lobby register, both monitored and sanctioned, as well as full and automatic disclosure of lobby meetings at all levels of policy-makers – not only the highest-level, which leaves transparency around lobby contacts for the bulk of Commission officials dependent on time-consuming and often incomplete access to documents requests.
(Más)