Drug companies complaining about judge’s abortion pill ruling gave money to Republicans who nominated him

The New York Times reported on Monday that over 250 drug companies are coming out against the ruling by District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, halting the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. But those same drug companies were supporting the Republicans that ushered the judge onto the bench.

When Kacsmaryk was brought before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017, it was after the 2016 election cycle, where the majority of the money from pharmaceutical companies went to Republicans.

“The decision ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent,” said the letter, which was signed by leaders of some of the industry’s most prominent companies, including Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer and Alisha Alaimo, president of Biogen.

In 2016, Pfizer gave over $200,000 to Hillary Clinton, but they gave a combined total of $269,110, Open Secrets reported. They gave $20,600 to Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), who sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that approved Kacsmaryk. They also gave $18,758 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

In 2016, Biogen also gave more campaign cash to Republicans than Democrats, according to Open Secrets. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was one of the top five senators that got money from a company that spent a little less than $200,000 in total.

The ruling “has set a precedent for diminishing F.D.A.’s authority over drug approvals, and in so doing, creates uncertainty for the entire biopharma industry,” the letter complains.

In 2016, Tillis (R-NC) got donations from "Health Professionals," totaling $416,828, according to OpenSecrets. Counting individuals and PACs, Tillis got $623,778 from the healthcare field. He wasn't up for reelection that year, however. Tills is still scoring big bucks from people like Pfizer, who gave him $22,290 in 2022, despite his 2017 support of Kacsmaryk that they're now upset about.

The 115th Congress had a Republican-led Senate with members like Crapo, Cruz and Tillis, but also Republican Chair Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), retired Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Mike Lee (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), late Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and John Neely Kennedy (R-LA).

The letter complains that pharmaceutical companies rely on the F.D.A.’s independence to bring products to market with a “reliable regulatory process for drug evaluation and approval.”

“If courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone," the letter continues.

It's unclear if an incident like this would impact how pharmaceutical companies conduct their campaign donations in the future.