Big Pharma Does Defense With New Ad Campaign In Response To Martin Shkreli And Attacks By Trump

Fortune reports:

Big pharma isn’t planning on “going gentle into that good night.” The drug industry’s largest trade group and lobbying arm, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), launched an expansive new campaign Monday aimed at getting the public – and, critically, lawmakers – to sympathize with the increasingly maligned industry, which has been slammed left and right for its habit of exorbitant drug price hikes.

The multimillion dollar GOBOLDLY campaign will include “national TV, print, digital, radio and out-of-home advertising,” according to a PhRMA press release, and is aimed at reminding the sector’s most important stakeholders of the groundbreaking work that it does.

The justification for the campaign is clear: For more than a year, politicians seeking the presidency have been slamming the likes of Martin Shkreli and Valeant Pharmaceuticals for outrageous price hikes on old and niche drugs.

And while drug makers originally thought that President Donald Trump would be a far more enthusiastic partner, he said that drug makers are “getting away with murder” during his first major post-New Year press conference. Trump went on to insist that his administration will chase direct negotiations and bidding in Medicare as a way to keep drug prices in check – a policy that PhRMA vehemently opposes.

Shkreli has already fired back with a text-only new website that blasts big pharma for their own price hikes.