Pharma Lobbyists Urge EU to Negotiate with Trump

“The pharmaceutical industry in the U.K. has now gained planning certainty, a state not yet reached by the EU, where the possibility of customs duties poses a continued risk and uncertainty,” he stated.

Trump has consistently accused European pharmaceutical companies of causing higher drug prices in the U.S. He has threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on pharmaceutical products and demanded that drugmakers adopt “most favored nation pricing,” aligning U.S. prices with those in other wealthy countries.

These threats have prompted British and European drug companies to strengthen their lobbying efforts in Washington, particularly on K Street. From July to September, lobbying expenditures from GSK, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, were the highest in at least a decade for that time frame. Year-to-date expenditures by AstraZeneca, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi have also reached a 10-year peak.

European pharmaceutical companies are increasing their engagement with external lobbying firms. This year, DLA Piper, Corcoran & Associates, and B Hall Strategies registered to lobby for Novartis, which did not engage new external firms last year. Novartis’s lobbyists now include Richard Burr, the former leading Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Michael Corcoran, a notable Republican lobbyist from Florida.

Alkermes and Novo Nordisk have enlisted Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with ties to Trump, while Genentech has retained lobbyists from Miller Strategies, including Jeff Miller, a veteran Republican strategist, and Ashley Gunn, who was a special assistant to Trump in his first term. GSK, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk have hired lobbyists from Checkmate Government Relations this year, involving Fritz Vaughan, a former Treasury official in the first Trump administration.

“Currently, policy is deeply intertwined with business strategy,” stated Allison Parker-Lagoo, deputy of the North America health practice at APCO, a government relations firm advising pharmaceutical companies. “The geopolitical climate mandates that everyone critically consider their presence in each operational market.”