Pharma and health care industries spent nearly $5 billion on lobbying in the last 20 years

Pharma company profits and the kind of money they spend on lobbying politicians have been all over the news this election cycle, and new research finds that these and other health companies spent nearly $5 billion in lobbying efforts over the past two decades. Looking at data from 1999 to 2018, researchers found that the trade group PhRMA and 19 other top organizations were responsible for nearly half of that lobbying money. More than $400 million went to elections, with congressional candidates earning nearly 10 times as much in lobbying funds as presidential candidates.

Another study found that pharmaceutical companies tended to have significantly higher profits than other companies on the S&P 500 Index. Scientists looked at 2000-2018 earnings data from 35 pharmaceutical companies and 357 other companies on the index: The pharma companies earned a profit of nearly $9 trillion, while the other companies' combined profit was around $42 trillion.