North Chicago, Ill.-based AbbVie is cutting ties with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, two leading pharmaceutical lobby groups.
AbbVie, the fourth-largest drugmaker by revenue, will also leave the Business Roundtable, a lobby organization that's comprised of CEOs from healthcare companies such as Kaiser Permanente, Walgreens and Walmart, a source familiar with the matter told Becker's Dec. 15. The list of Business Roundtable members includes a plethora of drugmakers, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer.
Brian Newell, a spokesperson for PhRMA, confirmed that AbbVie is not renewing its membership in 2023 and said the news "does not change our focus on fighting for the solutions patients and our healthcare system need."
The biotech's departure from multiple lobbies comes a few months after pharmaceutical lobbies, which have been influential for decades, failed to prevent the drug pricing measures in the Inflation Reduction Act. One of the most pressing measures for pharmaceutical companies includes Medicare's future power to negotiate the costs of some drugs in 2026.
"We regularly evaluate our memberships with industry trade associations and our most recent assessment led us to decide not to renew our membership with select trade associations," an AbbVie spokesperson told Becker's.