Eight midterm races putting pharma and its influence front and center - STAT

Eight midterm races putting pharma and its influence front and center - STAT

The best — and most hypocritical — pharma-related ads this cycle

More than a few candidates are touting their record on drug pricing issues to appeal to voters. Here are the most noteworthy spots:

• A Super PAC aligned with Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, is going after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for taking campaign contributions from Mylan — the company infamous for hiking EpiPen prices and whose CEO, Heather Bresch, is Manchin’s daughter. It’s a bold play for Republicans: Their candidate is a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist, married to a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist.

• In Tennessee’s surprisingly competitive race for U.S. Senate, the Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn is taking flak for a 2016 law that critics say hampered the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to intercept suspicious opioid shipments. In a way, it’s the opposite of West Virginia: This time it’s a Super PAC aligned with the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, cutting ads calling out Blackburn’s pharma ties, the AP reports.

• And in Michigan, Fred Upton — a veteran Republican congressman and major health policy figure — is getting hit in a 30-second ad  for taking “more than $2 million from the insurance and drug industries.” His opponent, Matt Longjohn, is an M.D. running largely on criticism of Upton’s central role in attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act.