Lalita is the Center's summer 2014 reporting intern. She is originally from France and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, with a degree in economics and philosophy.
Ebola Lobbying Goes Viral
The Ebola scare has reached K Street. (Flickr/European Commission DG ECHO)
If you’re seeking reassurance on the Ebola threat, don’t look at the latest lobbying filings.
In the third quarter spanning July through September, 17 organizations specifically referred to the hemorrhagic fever — which has already caused more than 4,500 deaths in West Africa and one in the United States — in their lobbying filings. This includes health professionals’ associations, research institutions and many pharmaceutical companies.
With the growing scare, many of these companies’ stocks have already soared. And so have their lobbying tabs.
Sarepta Therapeutics, which has been championing its experimental Ebola treatment AVI-7537 for fast-track approval, spent more than ever on lobbying this year. The company shed $80,000 just in the third quarter. Its total annual bill for lobbying had never exceeded $40,000.
Cerus Corp. announced on Monday it was applying for compassionate use approval of its anti-viral blood treatment technology from the Food and Drug Administration. And it came prepared: It has already spent $20,000 promoting its technology to officials.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has already received millions from the government to develop an Ebola treatment — including an extra $2.4 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced in August. But in the third quarter, BioCryst lobbied explicitly on Ebola for the first time, dropping $60,000 on the “Ebola response,” pandemic preparedness and biodefense.
Another company throwing its hat in the K Street ring in the third quarter: Hemispherx BioPharma, a boutique biotech firm that obtained approval last month from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to test two of its drugs in countering Ebola. It hired Squire Patton Boggs hands this month “to bring our experimental drug Ampligen and FDA approved drug Alferon online as potential therapeutics for Ebola,” according to a statement given to Politico.
Other organizations that mentioned Ebola in lobbying disclosures include Welch Allyn, Inc., the American Academy of Family Physicians and even the Greater New York Hospital Association, which sought to “educat[e] DC officials about NY hospital preparedness for Ebola.”
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