Receipts at the Pharmacy Counter

Arizona

Center Forward, bankrolled by PhRMA, ran ~$1.2M in ads promoting Sinema starting days after she told the White House she opposed Medicare drug-price negotiation. She then helped limit the IRA's scope to older off-patent drugs — cutting drugs eligible for negotiation from a proposed 250 to a maximum of 20 by 2029. [source]

Arizona

From her 2018 election through 2021, Sinema collected $466,000+ from pharma PACs and executives — a top Senate pharma recipient. She opposed the original Build Back Better drug-pricing plan and negotiated the narrower IRA version the industry regarded as a major win. [source]

California

Peters was the House's top pharma recipient in H1 2021 at $63,900 — donors included Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, Takeda, GSK, and Amgen PACs. He received $19,600 from pharma executives and lobbyists within two days of his May 2021 letter to Speaker Pelosi opposing broad Medicare negotiation, then voted against HR3 in committee. [source]

Oregon

Schrader's largest career industry donor was pharma at $614,830 total. He voted against HR3 in committee, calling the original plan something that 'would kill the industry.' After losing his 2022 primary he joined Williams & Jensen, a D.C. lobby firm representing Amgen, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer — all companies that funded his campaigns. [source]

Oregon

Center Forward spent $1.04M in the 2022 Oregon Democratic primary defending Schrader against progressive challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who ran explicitly on his pharma ties. Schrader outspent his opponent 10-to-1 and still lost. [source]

New Jersey

Menendez led all senators in pharma donations in the 2021 cycle and accumulated ~$1.1M career from pharma. As a senior Senate Finance Committee member he declared himself a 'no' on HR3, the bill allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on at least 50 of the 125 highest-cost drugs. [source]

PhRMA brands Medicare drug-price negotiation as 'government price setting' threatening innovation — citing member surveys claiming 63% shifted R&D away from small molecules and 78% planned to cancel early pipeline projects — framing the change as a threat to future cures rather than a transfer of savings to patients. [source]

Center Forward brands itself centrist while its board is stocked with corporate lobbyists, including two PhRMA representatives. It funneled undisclosed pharma funds into ~$2.24M in outside ads backing Sinema (2021) and Schrader (2022) — both of whom blocked or narrowed negotiation — with no donor disclosure required. [source]

Schrader's career arc is the receipt: pharma's largest House ally on Energy & Commerce voted down negotiation, lost his primary despite $1M+ in industry outside spending, then joined Williams & Jensen — whose pharma clients include every major company that funded his campaigns. He now lobbies the institution he spent years shielding from reform. [source]

In 2022, pharma and health-product PACs directed 60% of their $13.7M in candidate contributions to Democrats — the majority caucus with power over drug-pricing law; 14 of the top 20 congressional pharma recipients were Democrats and 39 of the top 40 sat on health committees. Despite a record $380M in industry lobbying, the IRA still passed — but with a scope the industry could live with. [source]