During the debate of California bill AB 463, on the Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015, Kassy Perry was using Twitter to attack the bill, posting links to and repeating pharmaceutical industry talking points. Who is Kassy Perry? A founder of Perry Communications, a Sacramento public relations and lobbying firm. This is her Twitter profile:
https://twitter.com/KassyPerry
When the California Assembly Health Committee failed to report out AB 463, delaying its passage until next year, at the earliest, Kassy Perry wrote that “Reason prevails in CA. #AB463 fails. Anti-American efforts for #price controls fail. ”
https://twitter.com/KassyPerry/status/593231681219264512
Actually, the bill has not “failed,” although it now cannot be considered until 2016.
When criticized for attacking transparency of R&D costs, Perry described herself repeated as a patient, or as someone who represented patients. For example:
https://twitter.com/KassyPerry/status/593429470406553601
And, she flatly denied to be speaking for drug companies, claiming she was “speaking on behalf of patient advocacy clients.”
https://twitter.com/KassyPerry/status/593446843402493952
Patient groups today are typically funded by drug companies, and sometimes even created by drug companies, to push for higher subsidies and more favorable reimbursement policies, areas where patients and drug companies share interests to some degree. But when looking at her client list, which does indeed include many patient groups, lots of drug company clients also show up, making it less plausible that the opposition to drug company disclosures of R&D costs were motivated by patient group concerns.
http://perrycom.com/clients
Among the clients listed in the “Perry Communications Client List” are the following:
Alzheimer’s Association, California Chapter
Alzheimer’s Association of Los Angeles
American Cancer Society
American Diabetes Association
Amgen
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Area 4 Agency on Aging
Aristos Academy
Arthritis Foundation, Northeastern California Chapter
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America California Chapter
AstraZeneca
Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation
California Adult Immunization Coalition
California Medical Association
California Medical Association Foundation
California Pharmacists Association
California Psychiatric Association
Colon Cancer Alliance
Down Syndrome Information Alliance – Pro Bono
Eli Lilly and Company
Epilepsy Foundation
FORE – Foundation for Osteoporosis Research and Education
G.E. Healthcare
Genentech
Genzyme Therapeutics
GlaxoSmithKline
International Patient Advocacy Association
Johnson & Johnson
Merck & Company
Molecular Biology Consultants
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
National Cardiovascular Research Initiative
National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance
National Mental Health Association
Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
PhRMA
Roche Laboratories
Schering-Plough Corporation
Wyeth-AyerstPerry notes: “This is a partial list of past and current clients as some clients could not be disclosed due to confidentiality agreements.”