CBS to air exposé on Big Pharma this Sunday

This Sunday, April 1, CBS News 60 Minutes will focus on Big Pharma's lobbying efforts influencing Congress. Included will be an expose of the dirty tricks that were used to gain passage of Pharma's biggest profit windfall: the Medicare Prescription bill which forbids price negotiations.

Congressman Walter Jones, a Republican from North Carolina who along with Dan Burton, ar Republican from Indiana, tried but failed to prevent the stampede. Jones says: "The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill." "I've been in politics for 22 years and it was the ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years," says Jones of efforts by Republican Congressional leaders to persuade defecting Republicans to vote for one of the most expensive bills ever before the House.

The 60 Minutes airing coincides with a report to be issued by the Center for Public Integrity, will focus on the number of government lobbyists employed by pharmaceutical companies.