Updated July 19
Former Rep. Philip English (R-Pa.) last week notified Congress that he is representing a company that develops, manufactures and sells biotherapeutics used to treat rare and serious medical conditions.
English, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2009, is now a senior government relations advisor with Arent Fox. According to congressional records, he is lobbying on behalf of King of Prussia, Pa.-based CSL Behring on a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that excludes drugs that cure rare diseases from a pharmaceutical tax. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law last year.
Dennis Jackman, a spokesman for CSL Behring, said the company hired English to lobby for more drugs that treat uncommon illnesses to be free from the tax. Some pharmaceuticals that cure rare diseases are not exempt from the tax because the drugs are not the first of their kind. Only the first formulation of a product that treats an unusual illness has the potential to secure the exemption.
“Not only does [the provision] discourage subsequent products, it creates an uneven playing field,” Jackman said.
English couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
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