WASHINGTON — Top pharmaceutical CEOs have targeted a small group of Republican senators with roughly $200,000 in campaign donations in the past year, according to a STAT review of campaign finance disclosures.
The focus on Congress comes as drug executives are holding back on donations to presidential candidates. No major industry executive has contributed to a Democratic presidential contender or President Trump’s reelection campaign, according to the review. Only one — David Ricks, the CEO of the Indiana-based drugmaker Eli Lilly — has given to a committee associated with Vice President Mike Pence, who once served as Indiana’s governor.
Instead, the executives are using their considerable personal wealth to fund GOP lawmakers playing key roles in the Senate’s ongoing consideration of a bill to lower drug costs, which is projected to cost drug companies $85 billion in revenue in the next decade.
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