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Grassroots Groups Polish Drug Companies’ Image

by Sharon Bass | Sep 29, 2005 12:09 pm

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Posted to: Health Care

Groups dedicated to helping the poor and disenfranchised have found themselves—sometimes to their spokesmen’s surprise—participating in a front group for drug companies dedicated to blocking cheaper prescriptions.

* * * *

The New Haven-based Connecticut State Medical Society, which lobbies for physicians, is reportedly helping the pharmaceutical industry with a new public relations effort in Connecticut. And the society doesn’t even know it, according to a spokeswoman.

The same goes for the Urban League of Greater Hartford. It, too, has supposedly signed on to the pharmaceutical industry’s new p.r. campaign. When contacted, James Willingham, the league’s president, said he didn’t even know his group had signed up. “I am so embarrassed,” he said.

These groups and others who work for the poor and disenfranchised are listed as members of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. The Connecticut wing of this national pharmaceutical-financed organization was launched last month.

Partnership for Prescription Assistance is not quite what it sounds like. There’s no office. No in-state staff. Just a toll-free phone number, 888-477-2669, for people to call who can’t afford to pay for their prescriptions. After dialing that number folks are told which drug companies offer discounted and free drugs.

The multi-million-dollar campaign, besides polishing the image of an industry working hard to stop lawmakers from bringing down the cost of drugs, basically duplicates the same information often given to patients from their doctors and clinics. Some feel the money would be spent better in lowering drug costs across the board.

The campaign is the brainchild of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA), the drug companies’ No. 1 lobbyist. In each of the 50 states this program is operating, PHRMA hires a lobbyist to recruit clinics and groups that deal with poor and often uninsured people to become part of the effort. In Connecticut, the Hartford lobbying firm Capitol Strategies Group got the lucrative contract.

On its Connecticut Web site, PHRMA explains the partnership this way: “Our mission is to increase awareness of and enrollment in existing patient assistance programs … PPARxCT offers a single point of access to public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 150 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies. More than 1,200 medicines for free or at a low cost.”

PHRMA is one of the largest and most influential lobbying organizations in Washington. According to The Center for Public Integrity, between 1998 and 2004, it spent $72.7 million to promote its clients’ agendas with tactics like donating to the campaigns of primarily Republican lawmakers in Washington in exchange for the “right” votes for the pharmaceutical industry. Just last year, PHRMA spent $15.5 million on that effort.

Also, several years ago PHRMA lobbied hard in the poor state of Maine—even suing the state—to contest a bill that would have legalized much-cheaper Canadian drug imports.

So when Mark Masselli, president of Community Health Center in Middletown and a sponsor of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, says, “I have concerns about pharmaceutical companies,” he understands well that the industry has a track record of putting profits and competition way before patient care.

“We’re just lending our corporate name to say we are supportive of their efforts,” the longtime health-care activist says. But “I think they can do much more to help people get dramatically discounted drugs.’

Masselli says other streamlining measures would be more helpful, such as having all drug companies issue the same application forms for discounted medicines. “Pfizer and Bristol Myers both have free medication programs and have complicated forms, which you need a PhD to understand. And they’re often only good for three months and take 60 days to process,” he said. “A lot of people, their literacy rate is not high. A lot are special-needs populations.”

The Community Health Center, which has sites around the state, sells drugs to patients at a 50 percent discount, said Masselli, “because we are able to buy at the same rates as the Veteran’s Administration buys at.”

The health center also personally assists patients in applying for more highly discounted or free drugs from pharmaceutical companies, making the new toll-free number unnecessary.

Patrick McCabe, a partner at Capitol Strategies, the Hartford lobbyist who’s being paid by PHRMA to spread the message and organize the Partnership, said, “PHRMA cares about the well-being of Americans. They care about their customers. Their goal is to have a healthy America.”

He said he’s brought on social service, health care and senior groups. “We’d like to have anyone involved.”

When questioned about PHRMA’s motive for its new initiative, McCabe grew defensive. “I wouldn’t even be talking to you if you weren’t going to publish the Web site address and the toll-free phone number,” he said, avoiding the question.

When asked why spokespeople for groups like the Urban League and the medical society had no knowledge of joining his coalition, McCabe insisted those and others have signed on the dotted line, and suggested the wrong people were asked—such as Willingham, the Urban League’s president.

The Connecticut groups listed as being part of the alliance are the Community Health Center Inc. of New Britain; New Britain General Hospital; New Horizons Village; Community Health Center Inc. of New London; Community Health Center Inc. of Norwalk; Community Health Center Inc. of Old Saybrook; Connecticut State Medical Society; Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; Scleroderma Foundation Tri-State, Inc. Chapter (NY, NJ, CT); the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Connecticut Chapter; United Way of Connecticut; Urban League of Greater Hartford, Inc.; Visiting Nurse Association of Wallingford, Inc.; Waterbury Hospital; West Hartford Senior Center; and Women’s Health Connecticut.

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