Markets

What Genentech and Roche Got From Congress for $15M

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: November 15, 2009 / 11:18 AM EST / MoneyWatch

Genentech and its parent, Roche (RHHBY.PK), paid lobbyists nearly $15 million in 2008 and 2009 as they urged congressmen to support the biotech industry's interests in the healthcare bill and other legislation. The result, chronicled in the New York Times, is that 42 members of the U.S. House of Representatives put similar or identical statements on the record touting the biotech industry's history of job creation.

The Times did not report that the statements significantly changed the bill. But they do show that Congressmen are essentially the playthings of any drug company willing to spend enough money. The NYT:

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies.

Among the texts supplied by Genentech was:

"One of the reasons I have long supported the U.S. biotechnology industry is that it is a homegrown success story that has been an engine of job creation in this country."

During the period when the healthcare reform bill was in play -- 2008 and 2009 -- Genentech and its parent, Roche, spent $14.9 million on lobbyists, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks lobbying. Here's the breakdown:

2009
Genentech: $2.1 million
Roche: $4.2 million
Total: $6.3 million
2008
Genentech: $2.5 million
Roche: $6.2 million
Total: $8.7 million
Grand total: $14.9 million

The companies employed 33 lobbying firms, with each firm often using multiple individual lobbyists. While Roche and Genentech indeed lobbied on the "Pathway for Biosimilars Act" as the Times noted, they also lobbied on "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009," which later became the healthcare reform act as passed by the House.

One question: If they didn't change the bill, why did they bother?