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WASHINGTON, D.C. — New Jersey patients sent a clear message to Big Pharma CEO Bob Hugin and the drug industry: you can’t exploit patients and expect voters to reward you with a seat in the United States Senate. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action’s $3.5 million campaign successfully defined Hugin as a guy who made a killing off cancer patients and the poster child for everything that’s wrong with prescription drugs in America.
Statement from David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Action who took one of Hugin’s drugs for more than five years:
“I experienced firsthand the lengths Bob Hugin would go to put more money in his own pockets—the ways he would abuse our laws, the patients he would send into debt. He spent years making a killing off of cancer patients like me, and he had the gall to think New Jersey voters should elect him to the Senate. But patients helped make sure that Bob Hugin wasn’t rewarded for his greed. Hugin’s defeat should send a loud message to Big Pharma—patients are mobilizing. Voters are demanding that their elected officials lower drug prices and if they don’t, there will be a price to pay.”
Statement from Gulay Turan of East Rutherford:
“Bob Hugin’s loss is a victory for my mother, Kuzeyde, who lives with multiple myeloma, and for cancer patients everywhere. I had to sell my furniture to pay for her cancer drugs. Bob Hugin increased her medication 100 percent in a decade. I am so relieved he lost tonight.”
Here’s a snapshot of Patients For Affordable Drugs Action’s campaign against Hugin:
- Patients For Affordable Drugs Action spent nearly $3.5 million on television and digital ads to make sure voters across New Jersey knew the truth about Hugin’s record.
- Three TV ads –– “The Guy Who Made A Killing,” “Alive,” and “Send” –– exposed how Bob Hugin raised drug prices so high that some cancer patients were forced into debt.
- Digital ads included patients telling their stories to warn voters about Hugin.
- The Truth About Bob Hugin report took an in-depth look at how Hugin doubled the price of a life-saving cancer drug and abused our system to maintain a monopoly on pricing.
- New Jersey patients –– David Mitchell, Gulay Turan and Robert Keller–– all spoke out about how Bob Hugin exploited cancer patients.
Impact:
- Patients For Affordable Drugs Action’s campaign blunted Bob Hugin’s likeability among voters. Among people who say they saw Patients For Affordable Drugs Action’s advertisements, voters agreed that “Bob Hugin has shown he is someone who puts profits ahead of people” by 25 points (52-27%). Among those who did not see the ads, the margin was only two points (25-23%).
Background:
Patients For Affordable Drugs Action is the first patient-led super PAC focused on lowering drug prices. The organization spent nearly $10 million dollars this election cycle on advertising and direct voter engagement. It supports Republicans and Democrats who have stood up for patients in the fight to lower drug prices and works to expose politicians who are in the pockets of Big Pharma.
This is the first time there has been any sort of counterweight to Big Pharma. In 2016, Big Pharma spent $247 million lobbying, and in this election cycle donated nearly $25 million to help elect politicians. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action received principal funding from the Action Now Initiative, a political advocacy organization founded by Laura and John Arnold. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action is an independent organization and refuses funding from any organization that profits from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.
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