WASHINGTON (AP) - Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, spent $13.8
million to lobby the federal government in 2007.
The company lobbied on various appropriations bills, as well as on
pharmaceutical counterfeiting and imports, Medicare drug pricing, generic drug
settlements, veterans' health care issues, electronic prescribing, foreign tax
treaties, research and development tax credit extensions and more, according to
a disclosure form posted online Feb. 14 by the Senate's public records office.
The New York-based company, maker of the top-selling cholesterol drug
Lipitor, spent nearly $6.6 million in the second half of 2007 to lobby on those
issues.
Besides Congress, Pfizer lobbied the departments of Defense, Veterans
Affairs, Health and Human Services, Commerce and State, as well as the Patent
and Trademark Office, White House, Food and Drug Administration and the U.S.
Trade Representative's office.
Among those lobbying on the company's behalf were: Anthony Principi, former
U.S. Secretary for Veterans Affairs; Lisa Coen, a former director for the
National Security Council; John Halliwell, former chief of staff to Rep. Ed
Whitfield, R-Ky.; Stephanie Henning, formerly of the House Ways and Means
Committee; and Kimberly Pinter, former tax counsel with the U.S. Senate.
Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members
of the executive and legislative branches, under a federal law enacted in 1995.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|