PPD CEO funds conservative ad campaign

The advert​, produced by RightChange, does not attack Barack Obama’s policies but calls for voters to tell him not to “undermine the terror strategy that protects us​”.

The conservative campaign group burst onto the political scene in September with adverts that it claims have a “zingy edge and a sense of humor​.” Some of the funding for the group comes from Eshelman, who donated $2.7m, and PPD's chairman, Ernest Mario, who gave $1m.

Eshelman’s name was last prominent in the news in February, when he appeared before the House Commerce Committee following the problems with Sanofi-Aventis’s antibiotic Ketek. PPD oversaw Anne Kirkman-Campbell who worked on clinical trials of Ketek but was later convicted of faking data.

PPD discovered this but did not inform the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of a confidentiality clause in the contract with Sanofi, according to Eshelman’s testimony.

The case is now being highlighted by Democrats and some Republicans as an example of flaws in the FDA and corporate suppression of negative information.

Speaking in January Democrat Representative Bart Stupak said: “Unfortunately, the FDA has been less than forthcoming with either witness or document production in connection with our drug safety investigations​.”

Pharma backs Obama​

Although Eshelman has supported a conservative group, a lot of the pharmaceutical industry has been fully behind Obama for the duration of the campaign. Donations to Obama from the pharmaceutical industry have been more than double what John McCain has received, according to OpenSecrets.org​.

This disparity may be partially due to hostile comments made by McCain about the pharmaceutical industry, which he referred to as “big bad guys​” in a debate in January.

Despite this, the Republican Party has still received more donations by pharmaceutical companies, with 54 per cent of money given by the industry going to them.

Although Republicans are still receiving more funding there has been a significant departure from recent campaigns, such as 2002 when just 20 per cent of total donations were given to Democrats.

Regardless of which candidate wins the pharmaceutical industry will face a shifting landscape over coming years. Both candidates support the widespread adoption of generics, with biogenerics entering more widespread use.

In addition, the limitations to genetic and stem cell research will be lifted to some extent and both candidates have also said they will reform the patent system, although ideas as to how this is done differ significantly.

The future pharma faces will be slightly clearer tomorrow, when in-PharmaTechnologist.com and Outsourcing-Pharma.com will look at the consequences of the poll.