Throughout the latest election cycle, drugmakers channeled nearly $12 million in payments to hundreds of lawmakers, according to Kaiser Health News.
Here are six things to know:
1. Under federal law, companies can't directly donate to political candidates. Instead, they form political action committees, funded by money collected from employees, which are then donated to campaigns.
2. Over the last decade, or the last six election cycles, members of Congress received $79 million from 68 pharma PACs. Between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018, the latest election cycle, members of Congress received $12 million from drugmakers. The dollar amounts after June 30 have not been
3. Since January 2017, 34 lawmakers have received more than $100,000 from pharmaceutical companies. Two lawmakers — Reps. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, and Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. — each received more than $200,000.
4. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were targeted by drugmakers. For example, 185 Democratic senators and representatives were targeted, compared to 209 Republican senators and representatives.
5. About 28 percent of lawmakers didn't receive contributions from PACs this election cycle.
6. During the 2018 election cycle, as of June 30, the following five pharma giants gave the most to Congress: Pfizer, Amgen, AbbVie, Abbott and Eli Lilly.
Read the full report here.