A pair of religious organizations that own stock in Vertex Pharmaceuticals is pressuring the company to disclose more information about its lobbying efforts, the latest bid by such groups to force the pharmaceutical industry to alter its business practices.
In a shareholder proposal, the organizations want the drug maker to report lobbying procedures and payments; membership in any organization that writes or endorses legislation, such as industry trade groups; and management policies for overseeing lobbying (see page 37).
“Vertex is not particularly transparent,” said Jeff Perkins, executive director of Friends Fiduciary, an organization that manages funds on behalf of Quaker churches and schools, which submitted the proposal along with the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, a Catholic monastery in Kansas.
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