Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and his political connection to Altace, Hoechst Marion Roussel
During many of his political campaigns, Ramsey has accepted many generous campaign contributions from former King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CEO and current Leitner Pharmaceuticals, LLC CEO John M. Gregory, Gregory family members, and corporate executives employed within both the King and Leitner pharmaceutical companies founded by Gregory. Gregory is also noted as an important campaign contributor to conservative Republican and anti-abortion political action committees in Tennessee such as the Tennessee Right To Life PAC, the State of Franklin PAC, and the Tennessee Conservative PAC. Gregory financed and founded the Tennessee Conservative PAC as the political action committee's original president.
During 1994, the U.S. National Right to Life Committee announced a U.S. boycott of all Hoechst pharmaceutical products including Altace in opposition to the distribution and sale of the Hoechst RU-486 abortion prescription drug and by September 17 the anti-abortion organization, Pharmacists For Life International, joined the NRLC boycott, "...against the American subsidiary of Hoechst AG, Hoechst-Roussel, Hoechst-Celanese, its generic subsidiary Coply Pharmaceuticals and the agricultural Hoechst subsidiary" while asking U.S. consumers to "...focus on key Hoechst drugs which have the most economic impact rather than taking an across-the-board shotgun approach" and specifically targeting Altace as a boycott list item.
Hoechst merged with Marion Merrill Dow of Kansas City, Missouri in 1995, forming the Hoechst U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR). Altace was bringing in under $90 million in U.S. revenues for HMR and Hoechst had stopped promoting Altace within the United States and King Pharmaceuticals President Jefferson "Jeff" Gregory also began negotiations in 1995 with Hoechst to acquire U.S. distribution rights to Altace.
Hoechst underwent a 1997 realignment wherein its various businesses were transferred to independent companies, including Nutrinova on April 2, and the anti-abortion group Concerned Women For America announced during a National Right To Life Committee press briefing at the National Press Club that the anti-RU486 boycott against the U.S. subsidiaries of Hoechst AG & Roussel Uclaf by the NRTLC "...will be more narrowly focused onto the HMR prescription drugs Allegra, Cardizem, Seldane, Claforan, Lasix, DiaBeta, and Nicoderm" - and Altace is auspiciously no longer included by Concerned Women For Americas as a boycotted Hoechst Marion Roussel product.
The King Pharmaceuticals wholly owned subsidiary Monarch Pharmaceuticals, Inc. acquired ownership of the U.S. distribution and marketing rights to Altace and other Hoescht products from Hoescht AG subsidiary Hoechst Marion Roussel of Kansas City, Missouri on December 18, 1998, and following a January 1999 merger with Rhône-Poulenc, Hoechst assummed the new corporate identity of Aventis.
Ramsey reportedly organized an August 1999 lobbying airlift from Northeast Tennessee aboard King Pharmaceuticals owned corporate aircraft and flew to Nashville meeting with TennCare Director Brian Lapps that was also attended by State Representatives Steve Godsey, Jason Mumpower and David Davis at the request of King Pharmaceuticals lobbyist and former Tennessee State Senator James "Jim" L. Holcomb. The meeting was reportedly successful in placing the recently acquired Monarch Pharmaceuticals (a King Pharmaceuticals subsidiary) branded drug Altace onto the TennCare Preferred Drug List within only 33 days. Lapps resigned as TennCare Director on September 27, 1999. Ramsey was later quoted stating about bringing about the addition of Altace before TennCare Director Lapps is that, "I'm proud of setting up that meeting. What it did was provide good jobs and good benefits for a company in my district." Lapps resigned as TennCare Director underdate of September 27, 1999.
Aventis went on in 1994 to merge with Sanofi-Synthélabo, forming Sanofi-Aventis as the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world.
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