Stop the Pfizer and Pharmacia merger
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Action ArchivesStop the Pfizer and Pharmacia merger
Stop pharmaceutical companies from profiting from our health
Stop pharmaceutical companies from profiting from our health!
Stop the Pfizer and Pharmacia merger.
The, pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Pharmacia, recently filed with the Federal Trade Commission, their intent to merge into one company. If the merger is approved, the resulting company will control more than eight percent of the global pharmaceutical market, and become the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. The resulting pharmaceutical monopoly could dramatically raise the cost and substantially restrict access to affordable prescription drugs.
The Greenlining Institute is preparing a petition to the Federal Trade Commission to oppose the merger of pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Pharmacia. If allowed to merge, they would become the largest pharmaceutical company globally, with close to $50 billion in annual revenues and $9 billion annually in profit. The Greenlining Institute is opposed to the merger for the following reasons:
It would hamper competition within the industry, encourage mergers by other pharmaceutical companies, and allow for a few gian pharmaceutical companies to set higher prices for prescription drugs.
Pfizer and Pharmacia will save $2.5 billion by 2005, however these savings will not necessarily be passed on to their consumers.
Prescriptin drugs are extremely expensive for consumers; in 2000 Californians spent a total of $8 billion in prescription drug costs. The proposed merger would further drive up costs of prescription drugs and hurt consumers, especially senior citizens and low-income people.
To support the petition against the Pfizer and Pharmacia merger, please complete the attached authorization form allowing the Greenlining Institute to use your name and/or your organization's name, and fax or email to Congress of California Seniors at:
Email: jenny@seniors.org
FAX: (916) 442-1877
by Friday afternoon, August 9, 2002.
If you have questions, please feel free to call (415) 547-7559.
Three Reasons to Petition against the Pfizer and Pharmacia merger
1. Decreased competition amongst pharmaceutical companies
The merger of the two companies would substantially increase the number of exclusive drug patents - that a single company has control over - for 10-15 years thereby hampering competition and enabling the company to charge consumers exceptionally high prices for drugs they control without any competition.
The merger of Pfizer and Pharmacia would force other pharmaceutical companies to consider merging to remain competitive, thereby placing certain exclusive drugs into the hands of a few huge pharmaceutical monopolies.
The decreased competition would allow for these few companies to set the prices for much needed prescription drugs, and remove the natural price control factor of competition.
2. Greater corporate transparency is needed
Pharmaceutical companies do not willingly disclose the amount of money that they spend on the marketing and advertising of their exclusive drugs. Consumers that attempt to find out what percentages of a company’s revenues are spent on researching and developing new drugs versus advertising and marketing cannot easily obtain that information.
As the public demands greater corporate accountability and transparency, pharmaceutical companies continue to hide the true cost of their exceptionally high advertising and marketing expenses.
3. Companies save billions at the expense of low income, minority and elderly communities
The companies estimate that they could save over $2.5 billion by 2005 through this merger. The question is who would benefit from these savings? Would these savings be passed onto the consumers? Or would they be passed on to company executives such as the Pfizer Chairperson, William C. Steere Jr., who is compensated $40 million?
Pfizer currently gives less than 1% of the company’s $7.7 billion of profit towards philanthropy in the state of California. These pharmaceutical companies can give more in philanthropy to the low income, minority and elderly communities that make up their consumer base, however Pfizer nor Pharmacia has stated that any of the companies’ $2.5 billion in savings will be passed on to any of their consumers.
If you are concerned with the impact that this merger could have on the health of our communities, please sign the Greenlining Institute petition and/or write to express your concerns to:
Chairman Timothy J. Muris
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20580
Joseph J. Simons
Office of Policy and Evaluation Room 394
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 2058
Prepared by the Greenlining Institute
The Greenlining Institute is a multi-ethnic public policy and advocacy institutre that focuses on minority and low-income community and economic development. It represents 35 low-income, small business, civil rights and community-based organizations in California. Its purpose is to promote low-income and minority economic development and increase minority community participation in policymaking.
The Greelining Institute has recently started a Health Policy Project - as part of its emerging work in the health field - to bring critical health issues facing low-income and ethnically diverse communities to the forefront of California's policy agenda.
For more information please contact Kristina Alagar at 415-547-7559 or Madeline Perez at 415-284-7216.
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