A group of Senate Democrats issued a report last week alleging that contacts between Swiss drugmaker Novartis and longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen were much more extensive than the company had reported.
The initial draft of the contract, which Cohen subsequently modified, called for him to provide “access to key policymakers” in the Trump administration, according to the report, released Thursday.
Novartis disclosed in May that it had paid Cohen $1.2 million in $100,000 monthly installments between February 2017 and January 2018, but said that it determined after a meeting in March 2017 that the attorney would be unable to provide the services needed.
The contract was made between the drugmaker and Essential Consultants, a limited-liability company that news media reported Cohen had set up in Delaware prior to the November 2016 presidential election, allegedly to pay adult film actress Stephanie Clifford – whose stage name is Stormy Daniels – to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
Despite Novartis’ statement that it had met with Cohen only once, the Senate report alleges that Cohen and former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez had at least four phone calls and exchanged emails between April and September 2017 on “substantive issues” like the Trump administration’s drug-pricing proposals. Furthermore, while Novartis said it continued paying Cohen after the meeting due to contractual obligation, the report alleges that the agreement allowed Novartis to terminate the contract for lack of satisfactory performance.
The report was prepared by Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden, Oregon; Patty Murray, Washington; Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts; and Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut. Wyden and Murray are members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, respectively.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In a statement, a Novartis spokesperson said the company had cooperated with the senators’ inquiries and disagreed that it had issued a misleading public statement on the extent of its engagement with Cohen. The company did not ask Cohen to perform any services on its behalf, nor did he, according to the statement.
Amid the controversy over the payments, top Novartis attorney Felix Ehrat retired, with Shannon Thyme Klinger stepping in as his replacement.
Photo: Breaking Defense
