Politics

Roche Flees Drug Dens

By Bob Burton

The global drug firm, Roche, has decided to withdraw from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), the peak lobbying group for the U.S. drug industry. Following its purchase of the biotechnology company Genentech, Roche has decided that it prefers to belong to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Writing in The Star-Ledger, Susan Toddalso reported that "without Roche, PhRMA also loses critical revenue for carrying out its lobbying activities." Roche, she wrote, also "plans to pull out of another pharma-related affiliation, its sponsorship of a special pharmaceutical management program at Rutgers Business School." The Financial Times also reported that Roche UK decided "not to renew its membership of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, after it was suspended for six months for 'bringing the industry into disrepute'."

Full post as published by PR Watch on July 01, 2009 (boomark / email).