Amgen

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It’s not just Amgen and Horizon — America’s biggest corporations are trying to get even bigger. That’s bad for consumers, public health, and innovation.

Amazon is attempting to acquire One Medical for $3.9 billion,⁴ a move that would help Amazon on its path towards becoming a health care monopoly. Facebook’s parent, Meta, is trying to acquire a prominent VR company.⁵ Two major railroad companies are trying to merge for $27 billion, continuing consolidation in the railroad industry that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has called seriously concerning.⁶

This is not an extensive list, just some examples of the attempts by corporate giants to consolidate their power. But we have federal antitrust laws to protect competition and to protect consumers from worse products for higher prices. Our elected leaders and regulatory agencies must do everything in their power to more frequently and forcefully scrutinize and, when necessary, block these mergers.

https://pando.com/2014/04/17/rep-anna-eshoo-no-longer-eschews-pac-fundraising-collects-cash-from-tech-heavyweights/

Yesterday, the first-quarter FEC filing for Representative Anna Eshoo’s (D-CA) Political Action Committee, Peninsula PAC, was made public. The revelations therein should surprise no one in the post-Citizens Unitedworld. Eshoo, who has represented most of Silicon Valley since 1992, is raising funds through a PAC for the first time in her career, in a bid to replace retiring Rep. Henry Waxman as ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The vote among House Democrats to name Waxman’s replacement will take place sometime after mid-term elections this fall, but the contenders, Eshoo and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), have spent the first three months of 2014 stuffing their war chests. Pallone’s fundraising numbers will be released next week.

Eshoo has raised $203,000, the FEC filing shows. The list of contributors is a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley notables, including personal contributions from Larry Ellison ($5,000) and Colin Cromwell ($1,000), Twitter’s ‘Head of Global Public Policy’. Corporate contributions were made by the PACs belonging to Cisco ($5,000), Comcast ($2,500), eBay ($2,500), Google ($5,000), Hewlett-Packard ($5,000), Intel ($5,000), Microsoft ($1,000), Oracle ($5,000) as well as Sprint ($1,000), Comcast ($2,500), Time Warner ($2,500), T-Mobile ($5,000), Deloitte ($5,000), Johnson & Johnson ($2,500), Amgen ($5,000), and the AFL-CIO ($2,500).

All of this is completely legal and above board.

The Energy and Commerce Committee is one of Congress’ oldest, a standing committee with over 200 years of history. Its jurisdiction includes all interstate and foreign commerce and specifically telecommunications, consumer protection, public health, environmental health, energy, and food and drug safety.

While the amounts of money are miniscule considering the market capitalizations of many of the companies involved and the size of the lobbying ecosystem, it’s a sobering reminder of the monetization of the American democratic system and the codification of what many (but apparently not Justice John Roberts) consider corruption.

In this case we have a prominent Congresswoman in a bid to ascend to a leadership role of a major committee, raising funding among the firms within that committee’s jurisdiction, many of them headquartered within the district she represents. And no one bats an eye, because it's business as usual.

During the 2012 campaign cycle, Microsoft led tech companies in federal campaign contributions, giving out $758,000. Google placed second with $578,500. By comparison, Goldman Sachs gave$3,717,992 to candidates during that cycle, so tech companies have some catching up to do.

Woodrow Wilson once said “it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work.” Apparently these days the committee rooms are also corporate interests at play, as its hard to imagine that paying to place people in those rooms has no effect on what that work will be.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lobbyists-for-amgen-novartis-charge-30k-for-access-to-pelosi/

2/10

The lobbying firm of Amgen (AMGN) and Novartis (NVS) is charging $30,400 to "raise a glass" at an "evening you will not want to miss" with House Majority Leader **Nancy Pelosi**. Don't have thirty large? Not a problem. Show up at the "PAC Supporter" level for $15,000, or the "Individual Supporter" at just $5,000, the invite says.

The party is being hosted by Heatherand Tony Podestaof the Podesta Group, one of the most influential lobby groups in Washington. In addition to Amgen and Novartis, PG's clients include **Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, RehabCare Group, Google**and **Walmart**.

You can read the invitation here. Below the jump is the email invitation that went with it.

The party is a Democratic fundraiser (obviously) and thus isn't particularly unusual. Except, of course, that it once again illustrates how close drug companies are to members of Congress -- and how far away the rest of us are.

>- Related:

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Amgen is a large pharmaceutical company based in Thousand Oaks, California.

It manufactures pharmaceuticals to treat cancer, kidney disease, inflammation and metabolic diseases. The company's anti-anemia drugs, Epogen and Aranesp account for over a third of its sales. Enbrel, another leading drug, treats rheumatoid arthritis and is one of it's best sellers. The company has drug pipe lines and marketing alliances with Japanese brewer and pharmaceutical company Kirin, Johnson & Johnson, and other drug companies. Amgen sells primarily through wholesale distributors in North America and Europe. ^[1]^

In the fiscal year ending in December of 2009, Amgen recorded sales of approximately $14.64 billion dollars and had 17,200 employees.^[2]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Amgen has been a corporate funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)^[3]. See ALEC Corporations for more.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Funding controversial education organization Teach for America

Amgen is among the numerous corporate and right-wing foundation donors to the non-profit education organization Teach for America. Teach for America has received criticism from the Center for Media and Democracy and others as it is "backed by a number of right-wing interests that have bankrolled the conservative push to privatize, voucherize, and generally dismantle free and universal public education in America". ^[4] As of August 2013, Amgen Foundation is listed as one of Teach for America's three largest corporate sponsors having given between $500,000 and $1,000,000 between 2011 and 2012.^[5]

Animal testing

Amgen does animal testing.

Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports

This facility performed animal experiments involving pain or distress but no analgesics, anesthetics or pain relievers were administered. For links to copies of this facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports and Information: Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA.^[6]

USDA AWA reports

As of May 26, 2009, the USDA began posting all inspection reports for animal breeders, dealers, exhibitors, handlers, research facilities and animal carriers by state. See also USDA Animal Welfare Inspection Reports.

Political contributions

Amgen gave $1,717,547 to federal candidates in the 2010 election through its political action committee - 53% to Democrats and 47% toRepublicans.^[7]

Lobbying

The company spent $7,930,000 for lobbying in 2010. About half the money was spent using in-house lobbyist and half using some 30 lobbying firms. Some of the lobbying firms were Covington & Burling, Podesta Group, Dutko Worldwide, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, King & Spalding, Alpine Group, HillCo Partners LLC, Tarplin, Downs & Young, and The Duberstein Group.^[8]

Personnel

Key executives & pay

^[9]^

Kevin W. Sharer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, $1,480,000
George J. Morrow, Executive Vice President of Global Commercial Operations, $1,130,000
Roger M. Perlmutter, Executive Vice President of R&D, $1,080,000