Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Drug maker Baxter International Inc., shelled out more than $720,000 in the third quarter of the year lobbying on health care issues including government reimbursement for kidney dialysis treatment and increased funding for kidney disease education, according to Forbes/Associated Press.

Baxter International makes heparin, the blood thinner that is routinely used before treatment for kidney dialysis to prevent blood clots as well as during many surgeries. Several lots of heparin manufactured in Baxter International’s China plant were recalled by the FDA earlier this year after they were found to have been contaminated during manufacturing. The tainted heparin ultimately killed more than 80 Americans and sickened hundreds more before an investigation led them to Baxter International’s China plant.

The company also lobbied on bills to improve the safety of drugs imported from foreign countries, and stood up against an effort in Congress to reform the U.S. patent system. According to the story, high-tech companies support that bill, claiming that it would cut down on “frivolous patent-infringement lawsuits.” Baxter International and the pharmaceutical industry argued that doing so would weaken patent protections on drugs by reducing infringement penalties. The bill passed the House but is not expected to pass the Senate this year.

Baxter International also lobbied to give the FDA authority to approve generic versions of biotech drugs, which have never faced generic competition because the FDA does not have the authority to approve the less expensive versions.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Heparin recall, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.