Boston Pharma Companies Support Democratic Candidates and Groups, Report Says

August 27, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BOSTON – It’s no secret that companies, especially larger ones, donate money to politicians and political organizations that might provide the best business incentives.

In Massachusetts, biotech firms have provided greater funding to Democrats and Democrat-supporting organizations, the Boston Business Journal reported this morning. The Journal examined two years of campaign contributions from three Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firms, Biogen, Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals and EMD Serono, the U.S. pharmaceutical division of German-based Merck KgaA . Additionally, the Journal examined political donations made by MassBio, the state’s industry organization. The contributions the Journal examined were those listed on the Federal Election Commission website. The Journal found that those three firms, plus MassBio, gave $843,000 in campaign donations to candidates and PACs since 2013. Biogen and Vertex contributed primarily to Democratic candidates and Democratic-leaning political action committees, while EMD Serono gave the most to Republican candidates and Republican organizations.

Here’s a breakdown of the pharmaceutical contributions as found by the Journal:

•Biogen, Inc., since 2013, contributed $279,000 to political groups and candidates. Six of its top 10 donations went to left-leaning political groups and candidates, including Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Washington, D.C.-based Long Leaf Pine PAC.

•Vertex Pharmaceuticals contributed a total of $187,444 since 2013, with eight of its top 10 donations also going to Democratic candidates and organizations, the Journal said.

•EMD Serono contributed $370,000, primarily to Republican candidates and groups, the Journal said.

•MassBio donated $8,570 to Democrats.

While the pharmaceutical companies have largely supported the Democrats, the state’s medical device companies have largely supported Republican candidates and organizations largely due to the medical device tax under the federal Affordable Care Act, often called ObamaCare. Boston Scientific and Thermo Fisher Scientific contributed the largest amounts to political candidates, with the majority going to Republicans, the Journal said in a 2014 report.

A list of the top political donations made by organizations has been compiled by the website opensecrets.org. The site also breaks down the donors by industry. According to this list of pharmaceutical company contributions, Pfizer Inc. provided more than $1.5 million in political funding from 2013 to 2014. Amgen and McKesson Corporation (MCK) also contributed more than $1 million during that period of time.

The Journal’s data examined donations to federal candidates and organizations and did not include donations to state and local candidates. Massachusetts state government is dominated by Democrats, with 125 of the 160 seats in the House of Representatives held by Democrats and 34 of the 40 seats in the Senate held by Democrats. Gov. Charles Baker, a Republican, succeeded the two-term Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat.

The Journal noted many pharma and medial device companies based in Massachusetts have not been active in making political donations.