Surprise, surprise: Drug makers working on Covid-19 treatments are lobbying harder than usual

A number of the top companies working on Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics are upping their spending on federal lobbying, my colleague Lev Facher writes in a new story for STAT. Takeda, which is developing a plasma-based Covid-19 treatment, is among the companies that most dramatically increased its advocacy budget. It spent $1.3 million on lobbying this quarter, more than double what it spent in the same time period last year.The company has recently been upping their D.C. prowess more broadly, too: They recently hired PhRMA lobbyist Steve Tilton and one of PhRMA’s chief communicators, Holly Campbell.

PhRMA, however, spent less this quarter than it did in years past. The group spent $5.41 million on lobbying in the last quarter — an $800,000 downtick from $6.22 million in the second quarter of 2019.

Check out the rest of Lev’s digging, here.