Big Pharma is the name that is used to lump together the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.  These are drug companies that make over $3 million in profits and put out at least $500 million in research and development a year.  Of the twenty largest drug companies in the world, ten of them are US companies.  Big Pharma is one of the biggest special interest groups that affect politics.   

Consider for a moment that a drug patent only lasts twenty years, and that patent starts the second that the drug starts clinical trials.  It is during those twenty years that the pharmaceutical company makes all its profit from that drug.  It’s after the patent runs out that lower cost generic versions are allowed.  Consider in this that the drug companies are doing little more right now than putting out copycat drugs that are already on the market whose patent is about to expire.  It’s about profit, not helping improve health care or the health care system.

The most recent things that Big Pharma has pulled out their lobbyists for and won have been the defeat of the Medicare Act that would have called for the government regulation of pharmaceuticals, never mind that Americans pay more their prescriptions than any other country.  Big Pharma’s argument is that if we don’t pay full price for drugs then the budget for medical research will dry up and we will never be able to cure things like heart disease, cancer or Alzheimer’s.  Another bill that was successfully defeated by PhRMA, the lobbying group for Big Pharma, was The Drug Reimportation Act that would have allowed companies to reimport American drugs at Canadian prices to the tune of 30 to 80 percent less!

In the last election Big Pharma put out over nine million dollars to keep the Republicans in office because many of these Congress people were already bought and paid for and had the best interest of the pharmaceutical companies at heart.  All one has to do is look at the Homeland Security Act of 2002 for the legislation that protects drug companies from vaccine injury liability.

Eric Cantor is one of a good percentage of the members of Congress who is protecting and enabling the drug companies, preventing much needed drugs from being offered at a reasonable cost that every American can afford.  When we elect men and women to office we are doing so because we believe that they have our best interests in mind, not the best interests of drug companies and other special interest groups.

Will Griffith is willing to stand up to Big Pharma and say enough is enough.  He is willing to fight for the right of every American to have affordable medication that they need.  The health of the nation starts with the health of the people.