Biotech drugmaker Genzyme Corp. spent $680,000 lobbying the federal government in the second quarter, according to a recent disclosure form.
The company cut its spending by 35 percent from a year earlier.
Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Mass., develops treatments aimed at rare diseases. During the April to June period, it lobbied on a range of issues from patent reform to federal reimbursement on drugs and treatments. It also lobbied on issues including hiring incentives and tax credits for rare disease treatments, according to a form filed July 20 with the House clerk's office.
Genzyme lobbied both chambers of Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the White House.
Lobbying continued throughout the period as the company struggled with manufacturing problems that reduced production of two key drugs for genetic diseases, Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. Profit shrank drastically in the second quarter because of falling sales and charges partly connected to those problems.
