<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/01/big-pharma-launches-campaign-against-biden-over-covid-vaccine-patent-waiver.html" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class="">https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/01/big-pharma-launches-campaign-against-biden-over-covid-vaccine-patent-waiver.html</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Big Pharma lobbyists launch campaign against Biden over Covid vaccine patent waiver<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">By Brian Schwartz<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" class="">6/1/21</span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div class=""><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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 <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/us-backs-covid-vaccine-intellectual-property-waivers-to-expand-access-to-shots-worldwide.html" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">Covid-19 vaccines.</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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 <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/PFE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">Pfizer</span></a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/JNJ" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">Johnson & Johnson</span></a>. 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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">While PhRMA blasted the Biden <a href="https://phrma.org/Press-Release/PhRMA-Statement-on-WTO-TRIPS-Intellectual-Property-Waiver" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">administration</span></a>’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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Proponents of waiving patent protections say it allows poorer nations to ramp up production of the Covid vaccine.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">After publication of this story, a PhRMA spokesperson released this statement to CNBC:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“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.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">PhRMA’s ads on Google call out Biden by name.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“Biden’s Harmful Vaccine Stance,” reads one of the Google ads reviewed by CNBC. “Biden’s Damaging IP Stance,” reads another Google spot.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Each Google ad was live for up to five days through the end of May, according to the search engine’s ad transparency report.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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 <a href="https://catalyst.phrma.org/the-biden-administration-allows-politics-to-upend-a-pragmatic-pandemic-response?utm_campaign=2021-q2-ini-inn&utm_medium=pai_srh_cpc-ggl-adf&utm_source=ggl&utm_content=clk-hor-tpv_scl-geo_std-usa-dca-pai_srh_cpc-ggl-adf-TRIPSSearchDC3-ipr_uns-edu-inf-lrm-soc_txt-std-vrc-adf&utm_term=nap&gclid=CjwKCAjwtdeFBhBAEiwAKOIy57g38coDNEmPNq9ZdXSUrLBZQNXw-yfA2Nsa5aNtDC5yykne11GKpBoCw5UQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">headline</span></a>: “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.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Another PhRMA post cites a <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/551797-poll-majority-oppose-proposal-to-temporarily-waive-intellectual" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 119, 182);" class="">Hill-HarrisX</span></a> poll that shows that 57% of registered voters who took the survey are against the waiver.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Even prior to launching the digital ad campaign, PhRMA was actively lobbying the Biden White House on the patent waiver issue.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">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.</span></p></div><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
</div>
<br class=""></body></html>