Opinion: ‘Small’ tactics to counter Big Pharma’s influence on medication overload

Money talks in Washington, D.C., and no sector of the economy speaks more loudly than the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Its flow of cash has fostered an epidemic of medication overload.

Over the past five years, pharma has spent about $1.2 billion lobbying federal lawmakers, far more than any other industry. The industry has massive influence over public policy, much of it devoted in recent months to hindering legislative efforts to lower drug prices.

In addition to keeping prices high, the industry has protected its freedom to market its products. A series of Supreme Court rulings from the 1970s through the 1990s opened the floodgates to direct-to-consumer drug ads in print and broadcast media.