By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; D01

The pharmaceutical industry, long an ally of Republicans, has increasingly worked itself into the good graces of the Democratic Party and by doing so has helped block the Democrats' top prescription-drug initiatives.

In the year since they took over on Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders have been unable to pass either a bill allowing reimportation of drugs from Canada or a measure requiring negotiation of drug prices under Medicare. Neither is likely to reach the president's desk this year. Lawmakers on both sides of these issues say the primary reason is the influence, now redirected, of the drug lobby.

Drug companies have gone on a hiring binge, retaining Democratic lobbyists in dozens of major firms. This strategy, which K Streeters call "clogging the system," prevents adversaries from hiring anyone from those consultancies.

The drug lobby has also wooed congressional Democrats by plowing millions of dollars into helping with another Democratic goal: expansion of the children's health program. In a detente with its traditional foes, the drug industry joined a group that included AARP and Families USA to buy about $7 million in ads backing the expansion of the program, under which states receive federal money to provide health insurance to families with children.

The industry's main lobby, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, paid for most of the group's budget. "They have all the money," explained John Rother, policy director of AARP, which is no slouch when it comes to spending money on lobbying. "They're the ones who can write the big checks."

In years past, when pharmaceuticals leaned heavily Republican, Democrats did not have much reason to cut them a break or side with them on policy. Democrats won control of Congress in 2006 in part by accusing Republicans of being too close to drug companies and other "special interests." But now that pharmaceutical money is available to both parties, the drug companies have reason to hope for better treatment.

The Democratic takeover of Congress means "we just have more friends than we used to have," said PhRMA President W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana. "We're trying to find more."

The industry worked closely with the previous Republican-controlled Congress to shape a Medicare prescription-drug program that included a provision barring the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices. Democratic leaders have wanted to require such negotiation but were stopped initially by GOP resistance and an analysis by federal auditors that found that the impact of negotiation on prices would be small. Ultimately, the measure did not resurface because rank-and-file Democrats in Congress were not eager to revisit it.

Democrats had similar reservations about a bill that would legalize reimportation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. Republican opposition and public fear about imports of all sorts, from food to toys, blocked the measure at first. Then, Democratic reluctance about pursuing the matter ended the debate.

Most Democratic leaders are still eager to push this legislation, which the U.S. pharmaceutical lobby opposes. "They've orchestrated these coalitions and other efforts to improve their public image, but I still get a lot complaints from people that the price of drugs is too high," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Still, representatives of both the political left and right said the drug lobby's influence will make that hard. "They are an extremely powerful, effective lobby," said Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, a conservative Republican who tried and failed to beat the drug lobby on the reimportation issue. Ron Pollack, executive director of the liberal Families USA agreed: "They are the most effective lobby on Capitol Hill right now."

PhRMA boosted its spending on lobbying last year by 25 percent, to more than $22 million. The increase made the group the second-largest purchaser of lobbying services -- which includes both lobbyists and issue advertising -- after only the capital's perennial top spender, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to CQ MoneyLine, which tracks money in politics.

Drug firms also have engaged former top aides to Congress's most important Democratic lawmakers, ensuring access to each of the leaders. These lobbyists once worked for such lawmakers as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.); Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.); House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.); and Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

PhRMA's member companies, which include Merck, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, and their employees have also radically altered their giving patterns to federal candidates. For the past decade, pharmaceuticals contributed two-thirds or more of their campaign cash to Republicans. Last year, their donations split 50-50 in what industry insiders said was a concerted effort to purchase the sympathy of -- and access to -- Democrats while also keeping the allegiance of Republicans.

PhRMA is funneling money into targeted advertising as well. Except on Fridays, when lawmakers tend to be out of town, it is hard to find a Capitol Hill publication that does not contain at least one ad extolling the virtues of the pharmaceutical industry and its favored policies.

Even with all this work in Washington, most of the industry's efforts have been focused outside the capital -- on voters. Its three-year-old program to provide drugs to people who cannot afford them, called the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, has rolled its buses and accompanying media blitz into 50 states and 2,000 cities. The program, fronted by the talk-show host Montel Williams, has provided no-cost or low-cost drugs to nearly 5 million people.

"We're doing it because it's the right thing to do," said Ken Johnson, a PhRMA senior vice president. "It's also the smart thing to do. We want to be loved, too." He reported that a PhRMA bus has visited every congressional district and, as a result, the drug industry has seen "a significant uptick of support among working-class Democrats."

PhRMA's promotional machine recently started to churn out a half-hour television show called "Sharing Miracles," which the group pays to air on Sunday mornings in 25 major markets, including the Washington area. The program has featured first-person stories about life-saving treatments by former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and other celebrities.

In another approach to Democrats, the industry has joined forces with organized labor. PhRMA bankrolls the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association, a Virginia group that works to find issues on which unions and drug companies can agree. For instance, the sides collaborated on the campaign last year to pass the children's health-program expansion. In the end, President Bush blocked the bill with vetoes.

Tauzin said PhRMA is forming alliances with every patients' group it can find, including the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, Mental Health America and even the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (which counsels against illegal drug use). Those lobbies have a more positive reputation among lawmakers than the drug industry does.

"We're finding ways," Tauzin concluded, "to be good friends."