Situation
In 2003, America’s pharmaceutical companies were under fire from politicians from both sides of the aisle over rising drug prices. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America turned to Navigators Global for an integrated communications campaign to defeat legislative efforts to allow the reimportation of Canadian drugs and to make it easier for generic drug makers to infringe upon the intellectual property rights of research-based pharmaceutical companies.
Strategy
Navigators Global developed an aggressive Beltway advertising campaign that focused on the negative impact that the reimportation and generic drug legislation would have on the research and development of new cures and the safety of existing prescription medicines. Our campaign put the focus on patients and how they benefit from the lifesaving research conducted by America’s pharmaceutical companies, while establishing a political price for supporting legislation that would result in steep cutbacks in R&D spending.
Outcome
Our campaign succeeded in keeping the reimportation and generic drug provisions out of the Medicare Rx drug bill that was signed into law by President Bush in 2003.
