Drug Industry Wages Opioid Fight Using an Anti-Addiction Ally
The partnership with Ms. Nickel also sheds light on the industry’s efforts to shape the perception of its role in the nation’s burgeoning opioid epidemic, which President Trump has called a
“national health emergency.” By enlisting a prominent advocate as a partner, PhRMA is trying to position the industry on the right side of a health crisis that many blame it for creating.
As Minnesota lawmakers prepared to push a proposed tax on opioid sales in November, the pharmaceutical industry lobbyists who opposed the bill set up a meeting with its sponsors,
and they brought an unusual guest: Jessica Hulsey Nickel, a prominent anti-addiction advocate in Washington.
“I wasn’t buying it.”
While she is open — and unapologetic — about accepting money from the pharmaceutical group,
Ms. Nickel declined to disclose exactly how much PhRMA had donated to her group.
Ms. Nickel also started her own lobbying firm, whose clients included nonprofit groups and Alkermes, a drug company
that makes a medication that helps treat opioid addiction.
“They are investing in nonprofit groups that will do the same.’’
In Ms. Nickel, the pharmaceutical industry has found an advocate who combines firsthand knowledge about addiction with Beltway policy savvy.