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Big Pharma lobbyists launch campaign against Biden over Covid vaccine patent
waiver
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Big Pharma lobbyists launch campaign against Biden over Covid vaccine patent
waiver
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BIG PHARMA LOBBYISTS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST BIDEN OVER COVID VACCINE PATENT
WAIVER

Published Tue, Jun 1 20213:38 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Jun 1 20214:15 PM EDT
Brian Schwartz@schwartzbCNBC
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Key Points
 * The lobbying group that represents several top pharmaceutical companies last
   month quietly launched a campaign against President Joe Biden’s decision to
   support waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines.
 * PhRMA is a political advocacy group that represents more than 30
   pharmaceutical firms, including Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Johnson &
   Johnson.
 * Late last month it started running a digital ad campaign on Facebook and
   Google targeting Biden’s decision, a CNBC search of the companies’ ad
   archives revealed.

In this article

 * GOOGLUNCH
   
 * META-0.03 (-0.02%)
   

US President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 vaccine shots administered in
the US in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, February
25, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

The lobbying group that represents several top pharmaceutical companies last
month quietly launched a campaign against President Joe Biden and his decision
to back waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, is a
political advocacy group that represents more than 30 pharmaceutical firms,
including Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Late last month it
started running a digital ad campaign on Facebook and Google targeting Biden’s
decision, a CNBC search of the companies’ ad archives revealed.



While PhRMA blasted the Biden administration’s move shortly after the
announcement, the group didn’t officially announce a campaign against the waiver
push. The details of the effort had yet to be reported.

Proponents of waiving patent protections say it allows poorer nations to ramp up
production of the Covid vaccine.

After publication of this story, a PhRMA spokesperson released this statement to
CNBC:

“Biopharmaceutical research companies are committed to achieving equitable
access around the world to COVID-19 vaccines, and that is why we’re educating
policymakers and the public about our ongoing efforts to increase vaccine supply
for global demand, the risks of waiving intellectual property protections, and
the need to address the real issues driving vaccine inequity.”

PhRMA’s ads on Google call out Biden by name.



“Biden’s Harmful Vaccine Stance,” reads one of the Google ads reviewed by CNBC.
“Biden’s Damaging IP Stance,” reads another Google spot.


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Google’s ad archive shows that one of the ads on the search platform cost the
group between $1,000 and $50,000. The other cost under $100. Both targeted the
area in and around Washington, D.C., according to Google’s data.

Each Google ad was live for up to five days through the end of May, according to
the search engine’s ad transparency report.

The Google ads link to articles written by PhRMA’s public affairs team and
published on the group’s website. One of the posts bears the headline: “The
Biden Administration allows politics to upend a pragmatic pandemic response.”
The article claims that “not only will this policy do nothing to help save lives
globally, it could have a damaging impact for American patients.”

Another PhRMA post cites a Hill-HarrisX poll that shows that 57% of registered
voters who took the survey are against the waiver.

Facebook’s ad library shows that PhRMA spent over $245,000 since late April and
throughout May on digital spots. A fraction of that spending went toward ads
that ran at the end of May taking aim at Biden’s decision.

The Facebook ads all had the same message: “Eliminating IP protections
undermines our global response to the pandemic and compromises safety.” One spot
had a potential reach of up to 1 million people, according to data from the
social media giant. That ad targeted people in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and
Virginia. The PhRMA Facebook ads are currently inactive.

Even prior to launching the digital ad campaign, PhRMA was actively lobbying the
Biden White House on the patent waiver issue.

First-quarter lobbying disclosure reports, which span from the month Biden was
inaugurated through March, show that PhRMA lobbied the Executive Office of the
President as well as the Department of Health and Human Services on
“international intellectual property and market access policy issues,” among
other concerns.

PhRMA spent just over $8.5 million on lobbying over the course of the first
three months of 2021. Data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics
shows the organization spent over $25 million in 2020 and nearly $30 million in
2019 on lobbying-related expenditures.

VIDEO4:1604:16
Patent waiver doesn’t address vaccine supply question: U.S.-India Business
Council
Squawk Box Asia


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