Novo Nordisk's hiring spree continues

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Aug 10,2023 09:44 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

NOVO’S HIRING SPREE CONTINUES: Novo Nordisk, the drugmaker behind weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, has hired its third new lobbying firm in as many months as the company pushes lawmakers to make the blockbuster drugs eligible for coverage under Medicare.

— Novo retained Marcus Mason and Chyna Melton of The Madison Group at the beginning of July to lobby on Medicare and Medicare Part D coverage of anti-obesity drugs, according to a newly filed disclosure, as well as the 340B drug pricing program.

— In addition to The Madison Group, Novo Nordisk brought on Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer to work on the issue in May, and Subject Matter in June. It also hired Public Strategies Washington last September to lobby on Medicare coverage for obesity drugs.

— The lobbying ramp up came weeks before a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would pave the way for drugs like Novo Nordisk’s to expand Medicare coverage for obesity treatments. Novo Nordisk is backing the bill, according to its sponsors, along with several medical trade groups, organizations like Weight Watchers and YMCA and Eli Lilly, whose own weight loss drug is awaiting approval and which added new lobbyists in January.

RUBIO CALLS FOR PROBE OF NONPROFITS: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged the Justice Department to open an inquiry into potential FARA violations by more than half a dozen left-wing nonprofit groups tied to tech mogul Neville Roy Singham over the organizations’ ties to the Chinese government and its propaganda apparatus.

— “Combatting Beijing’s malign influence must be a key objective for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Unfortunately, it appears the DOJ is either unaware or ambivalent to this growing Threat,” Rubio wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

— The missive follows a New York Times investigation over the weekend that shed light on a dark money network tied to Singham, who founded the software consultancy Thoughtworks and now lives in Shanghai.

— That network has pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars and produced content parroting Beijing’s talking points across the globe on issues from the democracy movement in Hong Kong to China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, according to the Times, and even working at times alongside entities receiving financing from Chinese propaganda departments.

— None of the organizations mentioned in the story, which include the anti-war group Code Pink and the think tank Tricontinental, are currently registered as foreign agents, and Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, demanded Garland “immediately investigate” the organizations — as well as any other related groups linked to Singham — for FARA violations.

— Singham denied taking any direction from the Chinese government but “did not offer substantive answers to questions about” his ties to Chinese propaganda networks, per the Times.

Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

 

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MORE NEW BUSINESS: Better Solutions for Healthcare, the business coalition targeting the hospital industry’s role in health care costs, has hired its first federal lobbyists as it ramps up its campaign at the national level.

— The coalition added several high-powered employer and insurer groups to its membership earlier in year as part of that expansion, and now it’s hired Spangler Strategies and alb solutions to press the group’s interests, which include addressing consolidation among hospitals and enacting site-neutral payment, among other things.

— Spangler Strategies is run by Kathryn Spangler, a longtime Senate health care staffer and former lobbyist for the American Benefits Council — one of the coalitions new members — while alb solutions is run by former Senate HELP staffer Adam Buckalew, who helped craft Congress’ surprise billing legislation.

FEC TO WEIGH REGULATING DEEPFAKE ADS: The FEC this morning inched toward a potential rulemaking that would allow the agency to regulate the use of “deliberately deceptive” generative AI in campaign ads, which have already begun to creep into the 2024 presidential campaign.

— After deadlocking in June on an initial petition for rulemaking on the issue from the watchdog group Public Citizen, the commission unanimously agreed to solicit comments from the public on a revised petition from Public Citizen as to whether the FEC should move forward with a formal rulemaking.

— Despite Public Citizen updating its request to better comply with the commission’s regulations, as well as an entreaty by Democrats on the Hill for the agency to try and get ahead of so-called deepfake ads, GOP Commissioner Allen Dickerson reiterated his view that the agency has no authority to do so, despite having asked Congress for greater authority to police fraud by campaigns.

— Even as he welcomed “serious legal arguments in favor of our authority to act in this area,” Dickerson contended that policing the use of AI would arguably already fall under such statutory authority independent of a specific rule on the technology, but would also have to be narrowly tailored so as not to infringe on any constitutionally protected speech.

— Still, today’s vote does not mean action on the issue is imminent. The public comment period on Public Citizen’s request will likely wrap up in October, after which the commission will decide whether to move forward on initiating a monthslong rulemaking process. Congressional Democrats have also introduced their own proposals related to labeling deepfake political ads in the meantime, though they are sure to face Republican opposition.

MEANWHILE, IN FLORIDA: “A federal judge on Wednesday put a permanent halt to a lobbying ban approved by voters in 2018, striking down a provision in the state constitutional amendment that bars officeholders from earning money in their private lives as lobbyists,” Mary Ellen Klas reports for the the Miami Herald.

— “U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami sided with Miami-Dade County Commissioner René Garcia and Javier Fernández, the mayor of South Miami, who argued that the amendment language was too broad and poorly defined to comply with federal First Amendment protections on free speech.”

— “Bloom had imposed a temporary injunction in February and her ruling on Wednesday makes it permanent. The amendment was placed on the 2018 ballot by the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission, a citizen-led group that has the power to recommend changes to the Constitution every 20 years,” and was approved with nearly 80 percent of support from voters.

— While Bloom struck down the provision blocking elected officials from lobbying another government body — such as city or county governments and the federal government — she left in place a six-year ban on elected officials and appointees lobbying their former agencies — a provision that prompted several resignations within Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration earlier this year.

Jobs Report

None.

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

Stop These Oppressive People: Tyrants Racists Unqualifieds Misogynists Propagandists (STOP TRUMP) (Hybrid PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Air & Space Forces Association (F/K/A Air Force Association): Air & Space Forces Association (F/K/A Air Force Association)
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Interactive Advertising Bureau
Alb Solutions: Better Solutions For Healthcare
Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P.: Iowa Broadcasters Association
Broydrick & Associates: Planatomes (Formerly Entrepix Medical) LLC
Capitaledge Advocacy Inc. (Formerly Capitaledge Advocacy, LLC): Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency
Critical Mass Strategies, LLC: American Association For Justice
Freemyer & Associates P.C.: Southern Environmental Law Center
Groom Law Group, Chartered: Portability Services Network
Lsn Partners, LLC: Hrp 776 Summer Street Propco, LLC
Lsn Partners, LLC: Hilco Redevelopment, LLC
Lsn Partners, LLC: Hrp Hudson Owner, LLC
Lsn Partners, LLC: Hrp Potomac, LLC
Spangler Strategies LLC: Better Solutions For Healthcare
The Madison Group: Bally's Corporation
The Madison Group: Novo Nordisk Inc.
Tides Group, LLC: Agenus Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Lobbyit.Com: Alan Turing Neuromorphic Semiconductor Corporation
Lobbyit.Com: Delphi Salaried Retirees Association
Lobbyit.Com: Forest Stewardship Council United States
Lobbyit.Com: Microbiome Research Foundation
Lobbyit.Com: National Industrial Hemp Council
Lobbyit.Com: Quantum Xyz Inc.
Lobbyit.Com: Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association

 

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