StopBiotechLooting.org

• About
• News & Views
• Literature
• Take Action !!!
• Links
• Campaign Coverage
• Contact

Industry Lobby

We in Massachusetts are being hurt by the powerful lobby that exists to further enrich and empower the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. In her book, The Truth About Drug Companies, Harvard Medical School's Dr. Marcia Angell refers to companies "being hit with a tidal wave of government investigations and civil and criminal lawsuits" for "illegally overcharging Medicaid and Medicare, paying kickbacks to doctors, engaging in anticompetitive practices, colluding with generic companies to keep generic drugs off the market, illegally promoting drugs for unapproved uses, engaging in misleading direct-to-consumer advertising and of course, covering up evidence... Instead of being an engine of innovation, it is a vast marketing machine. Instead of being a free market success story, it lives off government-funded research and monopoly rights."

At the center of the lobby seeking to grab hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars is the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative Organizing Leadership Council and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

The MLSC is described as a quasi-public agency, but is really an agency established to funnel large amounts of taxpayer monies into a powerful coalition serving the interests of the pharmaceutical/biotech industry, often at the expense of the public.

The President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is Susan Windham-Bannister. Windham-Bannister will administer a $1 billion giveaway of taxpayer money to the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. In a Boston Herald article, "Biotech center to dish out grants, tax breaks," (12/31/08) Dr. Bannister said: "We are open for business."

Windham-Bannister left her position of managing vice president at Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions, a subsidiary of Abt Associates, to head up the center. Abt Associates describes itself as "one of the largest for-profit government and business research and consulting firms in the world." Her clients included the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, GE Healthcare, Genzyme, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Siemens Diagnostics, Tufts Medical Center and University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center can be found at www.masslifesciences.com/board.html. You can also view the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Advisory Board at www.masslifesciences.com/advisor.html

A key leader and benefactor of the lobby is Genzyme's CEO Henri Termeer, who raked in $35.6 million in compensation from Genzyme in 2007 and was appointed to Gov. Deval Patrick's Council of Economic Advisors. Termeer is a co-chair of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative Organizing Leadership Council along with the Drew Faust, president of Harvard University; Susan Hochfield, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Jack Wilson, president of University of Massachusetts.

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative Organizing Leadership Council can be found at http://www.masslsc.com/committee.html. We believe that this council and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, are serving, first and foremost, the business interests of the pharmaceutical/biotech industry too often at the expense of patients, taxpayers and the public interest.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which is an association of more than 550 dues-paying members, lobbies the states on issues of importance to its members. It is headed by former Dedham state Rep. And Selectman Robert Coughlin. On December 25, 2008, The Daily News Transcript ran a story, "Coughlin Fined $10,000." The article began: "The State Ethics Commission approved an agreement Dec. 19 with former Dedham state Rep. and Selectman Robert Coughlin in which he admitted violating the state conflict of interest law and paid a $10,000 fine."

"Coughlin, who left the House for a job in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick as undersecretary for business development, admitted violating the law by 'repeatedly participating officially as undersecretary in matters of interest to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council' after he had applied for the post of Biotech Council president, the commission said this week...

"After Coughlin submitted his resume in April, his official actions taken in connection with the MBC and its members raised numerous appearances of conflicts of interest," said [State Ethics Commission] Executive Director Karen L. Nober. "The penalty reflects the seriousness of those violations.

Coughlin accepted the job as head of the MBC at a reported salary of $350,000 a year. [See link to full article below.]

The Board of Directors of Massachusetts Biotechnology Council can be viewed at www.massbio.org/about/board. Note that companies represented on the board includes AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, Genzyme Corporation, Pfizer, Inc. and Wyeth.

---

Below are excerpts from news articles highlighting troubling issues. See for yourself, and draw your own conclusions.