AstraZeneca plans to leave the pharma industry's top lobbying organization, becoming the third major drugmaker to announce a departure in the past few months.
The UK drugmaker plans to end its membership with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) effective July 1, 2023, as first reported by Politico.
PhRMA also lost AbbVie in December and Teva Pharmaceuticals in February. AbbVie also announced its intentions to leave Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) as well.
The exiting drugmakers did not go into detail about the reasons for departure beyond saying they were reevaluating investments to determine the best use of resources.
Founded in 1958, PhRMA has about 30 industry members. The group raised about $450 million in membership fees last year.
PhRMA, now chaired by Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan, is the industry's most powerful lobbying voice and is currently focused on the most recent blow to pharma — the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The cost of inflation penalty, associated with Medicaid, is triggered when the increase of the drug price outpaces the rate of inflation. In this case, the manufacturer is penalized if they increase the price of the drug.
