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Caught Our Eye

Ex-Senate aide lobbying for affordable drug pricing

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Aug. 3, 2016

A former Senate aide is now lobbying to stop the country's next Martin Shkreli.

Amanda Smith recently filed her first lobbying disclosure for 340B Health, which represents hospitals and other health systems that participate in the federal 340B Drug Discount Program. The program was formed, 340B Health's website explains, "to increase the affordability and accessibility of pharmaceutical and clinical care for the nation's poor and underserved populations."

That would make Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, the bane of the group's existence. Shkreli gained notoriety last year after raising the price of a prescription drug by more than 5,500 percent overnight. 

Smith's first federal lobbying comes three years after she joined the group as its grassroots advocacy manager. She previously served as a Democratic law clerk for the Senate Finance Committee.

Smith is a graduate of the Creighton University School of Law and the University of Virginia.