Pharma Stuck in Policy Purgatory
While the health bill awaits certain doom, the pharma is holding its breath as it waits to find out what unexpected reforms may very well fill the policy void. If the President’s SOTU address was any indication, we might see some major changes in the way the industry is forced to do business, whether or not congress ultimately passes the reform bill.
In his weekly released budget, Obama has proposed – along with some other unexpectedly harsh measures – a heavy tax on patents and other assets drugs companies are holding abroad. Now, the big names in the industry stand to take a much bigger hit than they had agreed upon in the lengthy negotiations leading up to the original bill. For example: Pfizer, which claimed that a whopping 88% of its income between 2004 and 2008 came from outside the U.S., will be dealt a serious blow if the proposed 35% tax is passed.
The irony of all this is that while the pharma lobby was in total support of the administration when it came to the reform bill, they recently made somewhat of a big stink because of the bill’s perceived weak stance on generics and patents. Now, there’s a good chance that PhRMA is pining for the days when they were committed to a few cushy concessions, and Scott Brown was just a crazy guy who thought he could actually take the most securely Democratic seat in the senate. [New York Times]
-Michael B. Sauter