Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the nation's largest pharma trade group, increased its lobbying expenditures by 27 percent in 2017, according to The Hill.
The group's lobbying spending rose from $20 million in 2016 to $25.4 million in 2017 in response to increased public anger over high drug costs. The biggest jump came in the first quarter of 2017, when President Donald Trump accused pharmaceutical companies of "getting away with murder."
PhRMA lobbying spending rose from $6 million in the first quarter of 2016 to $8 million in the first quarter of 2017. Much of their lobbying was focused on drug cost and policy issues.
"The other thing we have to do is create new bidding procedures for the drug industry, because they're getting away with murder, pharma," President Trump said in January 2016, according to The Hill. "Pharma has a lot of lobbies, a lot of lobbyists, a lot of power. And there's very little bidding on drugs."