Was COVID-19 Good for Big Pharma? How the US and Canadian Pharmaceutical Lobbies Fought, Won, and Lost Their Political Battles During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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MARK MCKIBBIN | ACADEMIC SUBMISSION
The Graduate Inequality Review, Volume II (July 2023) |
Abstract: While the US and Canadian health care systems differ starkly, their prescription drug systems closely align. With prescription drugs, the countries share two important characteristics: a lack of universal prescription drug coverage and high prescription drug prices. Additionally, both countries have pharmaceutical industries whose political influence has discouraged policymakers from acting on price and coverage. However, starting in 2020, the adverse economic and public health impact of COVID- 19 created new political pressure to enact reforms. This fervour for reform led to a clash between government and industry. In both countries, the industry relied on their lobbying arms, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC), to act as their advocates. The rhetorical element of the pharmaceutical lobbies’ campaignagainst prescription drug reform had three defining features. First, the pharmaceutical lobbies lionized their industry’s work producing the COVID-19 vaccine. Second, they claimed the moral high ground in the prescription drug debate. Third, they offered alternative policy measures friendlier to industry interests and vaguer in substance than the measures policymakers considered. In the same year (2022), the Canadian pharmaceutical lobby succeeded where the US pharmaceutical lobby failed: blocking proposed prescription drug reforms. These differing outcomes can be attributed to three factors: the element of surprise, political capital, and operational leverage. These diverging paths indicate a shift in the political influence of the US and Canadian pharmaceutical industries. This shift in influence has altered the two countries’ respective prospects for enacting further reform measures in a post-pandemic world. |
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